I      San  Francisco. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIF'T    OF" 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALS WORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
^Accessions  No .  JTT2L  tf$~~     Class  No . 


SCIENCE 


WITNESS   FOE  THE  BIBLE. 


BY 


REV.  W.  N.  PENDLETON,  D.D. 


UKIVBHSIT7] 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 
I860, 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 
J.  B.  LIPPIXCOTT  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


TO 

THE  CHURCHES, 

AND    TO 

THE    SCIENTIFIC    PUBLIC 
IN   GENERAL; 

AND  IN  PARTICULABjrO  HIS 

GRATEFULLY  REMEMBERED  ALMA  MATER, 

THE    MOST    DISTINCTIVELY    SCIENTIFIC    EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTION    OF 
THE    COUNTRY, 

THE    U.  S.  MILITARY   ACADEMY   AT    WEST   POINT, 

AND   TO 
THE    MANY   ACCOMPLISHED    ALUMNI    THEREOF, 

HIS    ESTEEMED    FELLOW    GRADUATES, 

is 

IS   RESPECTFULLY   AND    KINDLY    INSCRIBED 
BY    THEIR    FRIEND, 

THE     AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


THE  topics  discussed  in  the  following  pages  may  be  regarded 
either  separately  or  in  their  mutual  relations.  With  this  two- 
fold view,  accordingly,  the  discussions  are  conducted.  Each  is 
intended  to  be  complete  in  itself,  and  yet  to  constitute  an  appro- 
priate part  of  a  larger  whole. 

Trusting  that  he  may,  in  the  series,  have  done  something 
toward  promoting  right  convictions  on  great  questions,  with 
regard  to  which  science  is  sometimes  represented  as  at  issue 
with  Holy  Scripture,  the  author  commits  it  to  His  blessing, 
"  without  whom  nothing  is  strong,  nothing  is  holy." 

LEXINGTON,  VIRGINIA,  June  1,  1860. 

00 


CONTENTS. 


DISCUSSION  I. 

PAGE 
SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION 9 


DISCUSSION  II. 

THE    HUMAN   FAMILY 62 

DISCUSSION  III. 

THE    CHRONOLOGY   OF    CREATION 145 

DISCUSSION  IV. 

THE    AGE    OF   MANKIND 199 

DISCUSSION  V. 

THE  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES ..  287 


(vii) 


ERRATA. 

these,"  should  be  those,  page  13,  line  6  from  top. 
;  imperfect,"  should  be  impatient,  page  147,  line  11  from  top. 
;  sepultures,"  should  be  sculptures,  page  322,  line  5  from  bottom. 
:  varieties,"  should  be  verities,  page  341,  line  4  from  top. 


SCIENCE  A  WITNESS  FOR  THE  BIBLE, 


DISCUSSION  I. 

SCIENCE  AND  REVELATION. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  questions  of  our  age  is  undoubt- 
edly that  respecting  the  actual  relations  between  Natural 
and  Revealed  Truth,  between  Science  and  Scripture. 

Toward  conveying,  at  the  outset,  a  just  impression  of 
the  bearings  of  this  great  question,  and  of  its  controlling 
importance  at  the  present  time,  we  shall  need  no  apology 
for  quoting  from  the  lamented  Hugh  Miller  the  following 
instructive  testimony : — 

"Before  the  churches  can  be  prepared  competently  to 
deal  with  the  infidelity  of  an  age  so  largely  engaged  as 
the  present  in  physical  pursuits,  they  must  greatly  ex- 
tend their  educational  walks  into  the  field  of  physical 
science.  The  mighty  change  which  has  taken  place 
during  the  present  century  in  the  direction  in  which  the 
minds  of  the  first  order  are  operating,  though  indicated 
on  the  face  of  the  country  in  characters  which  cannot  be 
mistaken,  seems  to  have  too  much  escaped  the  notice  of 
our  theologians.  Speculative  theology  and  metaphysics 
are  cognate  branches  of  the  same  science:  and  when,  as 


10  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

in  the  last  and  the  preceding  ages,  the  higher  philosophy 
of  the  world  was  metaphysical,  the  churches  took  ready 
cognizance  of  the  fact,  and,  in  due  accordance  with  the 
requirements  of  the  time,  the  battle  of  the  evidences  was 
fought  on  metaphysical  ground.  But,  judging  from  the 
preparations  made  in  their  colleges  and  halls,  they  do  not 
now  seem  sufficiently  aware — though  the  low  thunder  of 
every  railway,  and  the  snort  of  every  steam-engine,  and 
the  whistle  of  the  wind  amid  the  wires  of  every  electric 
telegraph,  serve  to  publish  the  fact — that  it  is  in  the 
departments  of  physics,  not  of  metaphysics,  that  the  greater 
minds  of  the  age  are  engaged, — that  the  Lockes,  Humes, 
Kants,  Berkeleys,  Dngald  Stewarts,  and  Thomas  Brownes, 
for  the  most  part  belong  to  the  past;  and  that  the  philoso- 
phers of  the  present  time,  tall  enough  to  be  seen  all  the 
world  over,  are  the  Humboldts,  the  Aragos,  the  Agassizes, 
the  Liebigs,  the  Owens,  the  Herschels,  the  Bucklands,  and 
the  Brewsters.  In  that  educational  course  through  which 
candidates  for  the  ministry  pass,  in  preparation  for  their 
office,  I  find  every  group  of  great  minds  which  has  in  turn 
influenced  and  directed  the  mind  of  Europe  for  the  last 
three  centuries,  represented  more  or  less  adequately,  save 
the  last.  It  is  an  epitome  of  all  kinds  of  learning,  with 
the  exception  of  the  kind  most  imperatively  required,  be- 
cause most  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  time. 
The  restorers  of  classic  literature — the  Buchanans  and 
Erasmuses — we  see  represented  in  our  universities  by  the 
Greek  and  what  are  termed  the  humanity  courses;  the 
Galileos,  Boyles,  and  Xewtons,  by  the  mathematical  and 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  11 

natural  philosophy  courses;  and  the  Lockes,  Kants, 
Humes,  and  Berkeleys,  by  the  metaphysical  course.  But 
the  Cuviers  and  Huttons,  the  Cavendishes  and  Watts,  with 
their  successors  the  practical  philosophers  of  the  present 
age — men  whose  achievements  in  physical  science  we  find 
marked  on  the  surface  of  the  country  in  characters  which 
might  be  read  from  the  moon — are  not  adequately  repre- 
sented ; — it  would  be  perhaps  more  correct  to  say,  that  they 
are  not  represented  at  all ;  and  the  clergy  as  a  class  suffer 
themselves  to  linger  far  in  the  rear  of  an  intelligent  and 
accomplished  laity,  a  full  age  behind  the  requirements  of 
the  time.  Let  them  not  shut  their  eyes  to  the  danger 
which  is  obviously  coming.  The  battle  of  the  Evidences 
will  have  as  certainly  to  be  fought  on  the  field  of  physical 
science  as  it  was  contested  in  the  last  age  in  that  of  meta- 
physics. And  on  this  new  arena  the  combatants  will 
have  to  employ  new  weapons,  which  it  will  be  the  privilege 
of  the  challenger  to  choose.  The  old,  opposed  to  these, 
would  prove  but  of  little  avail.  In  an  age  of  muskets 
and  artillery,  the  bows  and  arrows  of  an  obsolete  school 
of  warfare  would  be  found  greatly  less  than  sufficient  in  the 
field  of  battle,  for  purposes  either  of  assault  or  defense." 

That  this  statement  is  in  the  main  just  cannot  be 
doubted,  and  it  certainly  indicates  a  misapprehension,  as 
perilous  as  it  is  prevalent,  in  regard  to  the  relation  which 
subsists  between  the  lessons  of  revelation  and  the  teach- 
ings of  science.  We  would  do  somewhat  toward  arresting 
this  evil  and  averting  the  dangers  that  follow  in  its  train. 
And  to  this  end  we  here  present  to  notice  certain  great 


12  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

facts  and  principles  going  to  show  what  is  really  and  justly 
the  relative  position  of  scientific  achievement  and  of  scrip- 
tural teaching. 

Just  one  hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  a  celebrated 
philosopher  of  North  Britain  gave  to  the  world  an  account 
of  certain  remarkable  researches,  by  which  he  had  liberated 
from  a  solid  form  in  limestone,  magnesia,  and  other  sub- 
stances, a  peculiar  gas,  entirely  different  from  atmo- 
spheric air.  This  discovery,  altogether  due  to  a  steady 
application  by  Dr.  Black,  of  the  Baconian  doctrine  of 
experiment  and  observation,  may  be  regarded  as  the  real 
starting-point  of  modern  chemistry.  Nay,  by  the  questions 
which  it  forthwith  suggested,  and  the  impulse  it  gave  to  the 
sagacious  mind  of  its  detector,  this  fact  became  the  imme- 
diate precursor  of  another  scientific  triumph  of  unrivaled 
value,  by  the  same  great  man, — the  discovery,  that,  when 
water  passes  into  steam,  a  vast  amount  of  heat  becomes 
absorbed,  and  is  rendered  imperceptible  or  latent,  but  that 
it  is  made  again  prodigiously  effective  for  warming  pur- 
poses, when  the  steam  is  recondensed  into  water. 

This  law  at  once  revealed  the  secret  of  many  a  grand 
phenomenon  of  nature,  and  placed  in  human  hands  the 
control  of  some  of  her  mightiest  powers.  Here  was  seen 
the  sceptre  of  the  storm-king,  and  the  subtle  energy  whereby 
are  sent  forth  hail  and  snow.  Here  were  disclosed  the 
processes  of  congelation  and  vaporization,  and  the  pa- 
rentage of  rain  and  dew.  And  here  mankind  learned  how 
to  make  the  vapor  of  water  the  most  useful  of  servants,  to 
convey  genial  warmth  through  the  largest  dwellings,  to 


SCIENCE    AND   REVELATION.  13 

supply  healthful  baths  at  all  seasons,  to  minister  culinary 
appliances  for  congregated  crowds,  and  to  furnish  the  arm 
to  color  or  to  cleanse,  and  the  breath  to  dry,  all  articles  of 
human  apparel.  And  more  than  all,  in  this  same  discovery 
was  found  the  key,  which  Watt  was  at  the  very  time  seek- 
ing, to  these  improvements  in  the  steam-engine,  which 
have  made  it,  this  half  century,  the  mightiest  agent  in  man's 
material  progress. 

This  instance  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  diffusive  influ- 
ence and  beneficent  power  of  true  science.  How  the  accu- 
rate ascertainment  of  even  one  great  natural  law  opens  to 
the  human  mind  a  world  of  associated  truths,  and  places 
man  in  a  condition  to  secure,  for  his  well-being,  that  do- 
minion over  the  whole  lower  creation,  to  which,  the  sacred 
book  tells  us,  he  was  at  his  birth  ordained  ! 

And  it  is  in  this  way  that  science  has  become  so  con- 
trolling an  element  in  modern  civilization.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly one  of  the  two  prime  agencies  by  which  civilized  man 
is  distinguished  in  these  latter  ages.  It  is  the  grand 
material  element  of  human  progress. 

We  say  science  is  one  of  two  chief  influences  by  which 
the  leading  races  of  mankind  are  this  day  actuated.  The 
other  is,  of  course,  that  moral  element  of  culture  which 
has  been  given  us  in  Revelation.  It  reaches  far  deeper 
than  the  material  in  its  bearings  on  the  great  interests  of 
human  life.  Farther  back  lies  its-power,  and  incalculably 
more  essential  is  it  to  the  right  development  and  final  re- 
generation of  our  race. 

Witness  one  instance  of  its  benign  operation,  exactly 
2 


14  SCIENCE   A    WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

coincident  in  time  with  Dr.  Black's  scientific  discoveries. 
The  very  year,  now  a  fraction  over  a  century  past,  which 
witnessed  the  promulgation  of  the  earlier  of  these  achieve- 
ments, saw  captured,  by  a  French  privateer,  a  sick,  be- 
reaved, lonely  Christian  man,  who  was  crossing  the  British 
Channel,  partly  to  recruit,  in  the  genial  air  of  Lisbon, 
energies  which  had  become  enfeebled  in  his  afflicted  Eng- 
lish home. 

The  prisoner,  in  common  with  many  others,  was  con- 
fined to  a  loathsome  dungeon,  and  for  months  subjected  to 
treatment  the  most  inhuman.  And  the  experience  there 
gained  ultimately  directed  the  earnest  devotion  and  un- 
dying sympathies  of  an  obscure  servant  of  Christ,  into  that 
course  of  heroic  practical  charity  which  has  changed  the 
whole  character  of  prison  discipline  in  Christendom,  and 
which  will  impart  to  the  name  of  John  Howard  the  charm 
of  sweet  music  in  the  ear  of  a  grateful  world,  so  long  as 
our  earth  bears  upon  its  bosom  a  receptacle  for  the  lawless 
or  an  asylum  for  the  unfortunate. 

This  extract  from  his  recorded  meditations  may  show 
the  spirit  in  which  he  wrought.  "0  my  soul!  in  the 
amiable  light  of  redeeming  love,  keep  close  to  Him  whose 
presence  makes  the  happiness  of  every  place.  .  .  Remember 
thou  art  a  candidate  for  eternity  .  .  .  Lift  up  thine  eyes  to 
the  Rock  of  Ages,  and  then  look  down  on  the  glory  of  this 
world.  A  little  while,  and  thy  journey  will  be  ended ;  be 
thou  faithful  unto  death!" 

And  the  work,  in  this  spirit  accomplished  by  the  world- 
renowned  philanthropist,  was,  in  the  language  of  another, 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  15 

this:  "He  saw  that  in  the  many-chambered  dwelling, 
framed  for  them  by  their  Father,  men  could  not  live  to- 
gether and  in  peace.  The  roof  and  spires  of  that  dwelling 
seem  to  rest  in  sunshine ;  in  the  higher  apartments  is  the 
voice  of  mirth  and  gladness ;  lower  down,  the  darkness  of 
sorrow  begins  to  thicken;  and  beneath  all,  there  have  ever 
been  lightless  dungeons,  from  which,  through  the  whole 
course  of  human  history,  have  arisen  the  broken  groans  of 
agony  or  the  low  wailings  of  despair.  By  a  stern  and 
awful  necessity,  these  dungeons  were  never  empty;  men 
were  compelled  to  chain  down  their  brethren  in  the  dark- 
ness, lest,  like  maniacs,  they  should  plunge  their  knives 
into  the  hearts  that  pitied  them,  or,  like  fiends,  bring  on 
all  the  destruction  of  Sodom.  Never  out  of  the  ears  of 
humanity  could  pass  the  doleful  voice  of  lamentation,  cry- 
ing, like  the  conscience  of  the  race,  'Fallen  !  fallen  !  fallen  !' 
Meanwhile,  they  who  had  thus  flung  their  fellow-men  in  fet- 
ters out  of  their  sight,  looked  down  upon  them  with  the  fierce 
glare  of  indignation,  as  if  their  chief  duty  was  to  load  the 
whip  and  whet  the  axe.  Or  they  turned  from  the  anguish, 
whose  existence  they  would  forget,  and  deafened  the  walls 
through  which  sounds  of  woe  might  ascend,  and  urged  on 
the  dance,  and  the  laugh,  and  the  song,  or  listened  to  the 
chantings  of  solemn  organs,  or  the  trembling  of  bridal 
music,  unsaddened  by  any  cloud  that  floated  up  from 
below.  Yet  calamity  was  waxing  greater  and  greater 
there,  writing  its  pale  emblems  on  too  many  faces ;  famine, 
pestilence,  torture,  and  all  injustice  might  enter  unseen; 
and  groans  of  agony  were  going  up  to  heaven,  though 


1C  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

unheard  by  man  on  earth.  Into  these  dungeons  of  the 
world  Howard  penetrated,  and  compelled  men  to  hear  the 
voice  of  agony  beneath  their  feet.  The  result  was  a  re- 
sponse of  pity  throughout  society,  and  a  resolve  among 
civilized  men  that  henceforward  the  lighted  lamp  of  justice 
should  be  committed  to  the  kindly  hand  of  love." 

This  is  but  one  illustration  of  that  benign  energy  which 
Christianity  exerts  upon  mankind,  a  single  specimen  of 
efficacy  in  that  great  moral  element  of  our  civilization 
which  the  Scriptures  furnish,  and  which,  reaching  to  lower 
depths  in  human  necessity  than  does  any  scientific  dis- 
closure, and  bearing  upon  interests  more  intimate  and 
precious,  limits  not  its  benefits,  as  science  ever  must,  to 
this  transitory  life,  but  points  onward  to  that  endless  ex- 
istence, where  purity  is  unimpaired  and  knowledge  unim- 
peded by  the  hindrances  of  earth. 

Xow  between  these  two  grand  elements  of  human  well- 
being,  the  material  and  the  moral,  so  far  from  there  being 
essentially  any  antagonism,  there  is  a  most  important  rela- 
tion of  mutual  service,  which,  as  already  indicated,  is,  to 
this  day,  strangely  misunderstood,  not  only  on  the  infidel 
side,  but  on  the  part  of  Christian  people  otherwise  well 
informed. 

Emanating,  as  they  do,  from  the  all-wise  Author  of 
nature  and  reason  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  revealed  dis- 
closure on  the  other,  it  is  of  course  impossible,  not  only 
that  they  should  really  conflict  the  one  with  the  other,  but 
that  they  should  not  sustain  and  enforce  each  other.  The 
works  of  God  explained  by  a  genuine  science,  and  his 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  IT 

word  expounded  by  a  just  interpretation,  not  only  cannot 
be  at  issue,  but  each,  when  rightly  understood,  must  both 
harmonize  with  the  other,  and  exhibit  it  to  human  view  in 
a  light  more  glorious  and  worthier  its  divine  origin. 

And  yet,  plain  as  is  this  principle,  there  is  more  than 
the  depreciative  neglect  of  which  the  Cromarty  philosopher 
gives  warning.  The  attempt  indeed  is  not  seldom  made 
to  array,  as  if  in  deadly  opposition,  these  two  mightiest 
agents  of  man's  welfare.  Ever  since  the  fatal  Inquisition, 
actuated  by  a  timid  and  illiberal  distrust,  the  direct  oppo- 
site of  that  noble  freedom  with  which  the  Bible  challenges 
inquiry,  dared  to  arm  itself  with  the  fierce  energy  of  bigot- 
ed delusion,  and  to  torture  old  Galileo  into  a  repudiation 
of  his  senses,  has  something  of  a  like  spirit  been  exhibited 
by  not  a  few,  who  should  have  learned  a  better  lesson, 
from  that  calm,  tolerant  tone  of  conscious  strength,  which 
breathes  in  every  page  of  the  inspired  book  they  profess  to 
honor.  And  injustice  so  flagrant  on  the  one  side  could  not 
but  provoke  more  than  retaliation  on  the  other,  until  the 
errors  of  certain  of  its  advocates  have,  in  no  small  measure, 
subjected  religion  itself  to  the  sneering  reproach  of  being 
the  jealous,  unworthy  eneniy  of  thorough  human  cul- 
ture. 

If  feebleness  on  the  side  of  right,  and  harm  to  the  great 
interests  of  religion,  result  from  the  mere  quiescence  which 
Hugh  Miller  justly  deprecates,  how  much  more  serious  the 
mischief  to  be  expected  from  this  actual  antagonism, 
founded,  as  it  demonstrably  is,  in  a  double  mistake !  He 
therefore  who  can,  in  any  important  measure,  contribute 

2* 


18  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

toward  counteracting  the  evil,  will  be  so  far  subserving 
the  best  interests  of  mankind. 

It  is  this  conviction  which  induces  us  to  submit  the 
views  we  are  about  to  present  concerning  the  actual  rela- 
tions between  the  disclosures  of  the  Bible  and  the  progress 
of  scientific  inquiry.  Of  the  correctness  of  these  views  we 
have  not  the  slightest  doubt,  nor  of  their  tendency  to  re- 
move prejudices  which  now  hinder  alike  the  material  and 
the  moral  elevation  of  our  species.  We  would  contribute 
our  mite  toward  the  harmonious  development  of  that 
wisdom  which  makes  man  triumphant  over  nature,  and 
of  that  which  fits  him  for  heaven.  So  long  as  the  leaders 
in  Christian  thought  remain  indifferent  to  the  advances  of 
physical  research,  and  the  body  of  Christian  people  retain 
the  idea  that  scientific  investigation  tends  on  the  whole  to 
skepticism,  and  so  long  as  the  ungodly  scientific  mind  both 
has  the  field  mainly  to  itself  and  can  avail  itself  of  the 
pretext  of  persecution  to  brand  religion  as  the  foe  of 
science,  so  long  must  disparagement  and  defiance  exist 
between  these  mighty  powers.  And  so  long  must  detri- 
ment accrue  to  those  interests  of  our  race  which  belong 
only  to  this  world,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  to 
those  which  pertain  to  a  future  and  eternal  existence. 

That  there  is,  in  truth,  an  entire  harmony  between  the 
moral  and  the  material  agencies  that  have  been  mentioned, 
between  the  triumphs  of  Science  and  the  teachings  of 
Scripture,  nay  more,  that  they  are  so  thoroughly  inter- 
twined and  blended  in  their  relations  to  the  human  mind, 
as  to  prove  their  common  origin  in  the  Source  of  all  wisdom, 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  19 

it  will  be  our  first  endeavor  to  show.  Perfectly  clear  is  it  to 
our  view,  that  discoveries  in  the  wondrous  plan  of  nature, 
made  by  rightly-directed  inquiry,  have  aided  the  human 
faculties  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  documents  of  in- 
spiration, and  a  firmer  grasp  of  the  precious  verities  they 
disclose.  Nor  is  it  less  evident  to  ns,  that  influences 
proceeding  from  Revelation  have  opened  the  way  to  those 
right  methods  of  investigation  which  constitute  the  basis, 
and  have  resulted  in  the  miracles  of  modern  Science. 

Indeed  it  must,  we  think,  be  to  all  obvious,  on  reflection, 
that,  addressed  as  are  Natural  and  Revealed  truth,  to  the 
same  creatures,  and  to  faculties  in  them  altogether  in- 
separable, reciprocal  relations  of  action  and  reaction  can- 
not but  exist  in  the  mental  processes  by  which  they  are 
respectively  realized.  Hence  may  it  be  conceived  how 
Revelation,  though  embracing  in  its  plan  no  direct  in- 
struction for  mankind,  in  regard  to  things  naturally  cog- 
nizable, has,  nevertheless,  through  its  influence  upon  the 
cognitive  faculties,  incalculably  promoted  that  amazing 
scientific  progress  which  we  witness  in  Christendom,  and 
nowhere  else.  And  hence  may  be  understood  the  service 
which  scientific  discovery  is  rendering  the  interpretation 
and  the  evidences  of  the  sacred  records. 

These  views  we  now  proceed  to  expand  and  illustrate. 
We  shall  endeavor  to  establish  the  position  that  mankind 
are  largely  indebted  to  influences  derived  from  the  Scrip- 
tures for  that  intellectual  revolution  in  modern  Christen- 
dom which  has  emancipated  the  mind,  as  it  was  never 
liberated  before,  and  which  has  placed  the  keys  of  nature 


20  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

even  in  the  hands  of  children.  And  then  it  will  be  our 
aim  to  point  out,  as  only  second  to  this,  a  debt  on  the 
other  side,  to  the  all-wise  Author  of  nature,  for  the  scien- 
tific methods  to  which  he  has  adapted  the  faculties  of 
creatures  made  in  his  own  image.  To  exhibit  the  recip- 
rocal influence  which  Science  exerts  in  correcting  inad- 
equate apprehensions  of  things  revealed ;  and  in  placing 
divine  truth  in  a  fortress  so  strong  that  enemies,  however 
inveterate,  must  forever  assail  it  in  vain,  and  so  lofty  that 
the  celestial  light  thence  emanating  shall  at  length  reach 
every  eye  that  will  behold. 

We  maintain,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that,  for  that  sim- 
ple and  humble  process  of  inquiry  into  facts,  and  that  sys- 
tematic ascertainment  and  application  of  natural  laws, 
which  constitute  what  we  mean  by  Science  in  its  every 
department,  man  owes,  incalculably  more  than  the  mere 
scientific  reason  supposes,  to  influences  connected  with 
Christianity.  And  in  support  of  the  position,  we  appeal 
to  the  nature  of  things,  and  to  the  evidence  of  history. 

That  the  scientific  method  of  seeking  truth  is  of  com- 
paratively recent  introduction  among  men,  and  was,  in  fact, 
never  dreamed  of,  save  in  modern  Christendom,  is  a  cir- 
cumstance as  significant  in  the  premises  as  it  is  in  itself 
undeniable.  It  is  generally  known  to  have  been  inaugu- 
rated less  than  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  as  the  new 
organ  of  investigation  and  discovery,  announced  by  Lord 
Bacon,  in  his  celebrated  "Xovum  Organum,"  and  substan- 
tially contained  in  the  first  aphorism  of  that  immortal 
work.  "Man,  as  the  minister  and  interpreter  of  nature, 


SCIENCE   AND    REVELATION.  21 

does,  and  understands,  as  much  as  his  observations  on 
the  order  of  nature,  either  with  respect  to  things  or  the 
mind,  permit  him,  and  neither  knows  nor  is  capable  of 
more." 

Now,  that  this  principle,  obvious  as  it  appears  when 
once  established,  and  the  systematic  applications  of  it, 
which  constitute  the  various  branches  of  modern  science, 
should  have  been  so  long  undetected,  by  human  intelli- 
gence, is,  of  itself,  a  phenomenon  sufficiently  remarkable  to 
suggest,  that  there  must  have  been  in  the  nature  of  man, 
or  of  the  world,  or  of  both,  some  cause  or  causes  seriously 
interfering  with  his  thus  applying  his  powers  to  the  prob- 
lems of  the  universe.  And  a  slight  attention  to  certain 
indisputable  facts  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  material 
world,  and  in  man's  own  character,  suffices,  if  we  mistake 
not,  to  reveal  such  causes  with  convincing  certainty. 

There  is,  for  instance,  in  the  vast  array  of  material 
things,  a  complexity  so  intricate  as  thoroughly  to  baffle 
the  conjectures  of  an  uninstructed  mind.  Particulars  so 
infinitely  various,  and  combined  in  ways  apparently  so  con- 
fused, disorderly,  and  fortuitous,  present,  to  the  uninitiated, 
a  scene  which  cannot  but  perplex  thought,  and  make  in- 
quiry seem  hopeless.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  conceive  how 
potent  the  influence  of  this  seemingly  inextricable  confu- 
sion in  the  world  must  have  been  toward  preventing  those 
systematic  observations  of  associated  facts,  which  might 
have  conducted  the  mind  to  a  knowledge  of  certain  gen- 
eral laws,  and  thence,  by  a  wider  induction,  to  generaliza- 
tions still  more  extensive,  and  so  on,  to  an  approximate 


22  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

understanding  at  last,  of  the  grand  and  beautiful  order 
existing  under  such  seeming  chaos.  The  idea  of  such 
ascertainable  system  in  a  universe  so  infinitely  various  and 
complex,  might  well  appear,  we  can  readily  understand, 
about  as  reasonable  or  natural,  as  to  expect  to  find  an 
orderly  arrangement  in  the  leaves  scattered  by  autumn 
winds,  or  to  trace  a  definite  meaning  in  the  mazy  dance  of 
insects  on  the  summer  air  or  on  the  tremulous  bosom  of  a 
rippling  lake. 

It  is  true  that,  amid  this  vast  assemblage  of  seemingly 
disarranged  elements,  certain  obvious  instances  of  order, 
calculated  more  or  less  deeply  to  impress  the  mind,  present 
themselves  to  notice.  But  it  is  soon  found  that  they  are, 
for  the  most  part,  such  as  rather  increase  than  diminish 
the  perplexity  occasioned  by  nature  on  the  whole.  The 
recurrence  of  day  and  night,  and  of  the  seasons ;  the  lunar 
phases,  and  other  periodical  changes  in  the  heavens;  and 
the  great  diurnal  heavings  of  the  ocean,  are  of  this  char- 
acter. Their  very  grandeur,  however,  and  the  immensities 
•which  they  involve,  are  well  calculated,  it  is  plain,  not  to 
relieve,  but  the  more  to  embarrass  the  mind,  when  an  unin- 
structed  man  turns  from  them  to  contemplate  the  things 
more  immediately  about  him.  The  intricacy  or  disorder 
here,  seems  so  out  of  keeping  with  the  fixedness  of  system 
there,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  thought,  under  the 
circumstances  supposed,  of  actual  ignorance  once  existing, 
to  associate  them  together  as  elements  of  one  great  plan, 
pervaded  by  order  in  every  part. 

Where  he  discerns  order,  uninformed  man  finds  himself 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  23 

impotent ;  and  where  his  energies  can  act,  complexity  and 
confusion  baffle  his  understanding. 

Allow,  then,  all  that  can  by  any  be  claimed  for  human 
reason,  (and  for  it,  under  right  guidance,  much  should  in- 
deed be  allowed ;  wonderful  is  it  when  thus  conditioned,) 
and  it  is  still  clear,  that,  apart  from  all  other  impediments, 
these  very  circumstances  in  the  constitution  of  nature,  and 
in  man's  relation  to  the  world  around  him,  must  interpose 
hindrances  of  the  most  formidable  character,  in  the  way  of 
his  attaining  a  method  of  investigation  which  may  unlock 
for  him  the  secrets  of  the  universe.  If,  therefore,  no  other 
adverse  influences  operated  in  this  direction ;  if  there  were 
no  impediment  in  the  original  approaches  to  the  paths  of 
science,  besides  the  complications  of  the  material  world, 
and  the  limited  power  of  direct  penetration  which  the 
human  mind  is  known  to  possess,  it  might  be  safely 
alleged,  that  many  ages  must  pass  (who  shall  say  how 
many  ?)  before  the  casual  notices  of  successive  generations 
could,  if  indeed  they  ever  could,  furnish  a  clue  whereby 
the  remotest  approximation  might  be  gained  toward  the 
entrance  of  the  mighty  labyrinth  of  nature. 

But  these  are  very  far  from  being  the  only  or  the  most 
formidable  difficulties  by  which  access  to  a  true  philosophy 
of  investigation,  on  the  part  of  mankind,  must,  it  would 
appear,  have  been  prevented.  There  are  in  man  himself, 
in  the  processes  of  his  own  constitution,  and  the  elements  of 
his  character,  hindrances  in  the  way  to  an  effectual  plan  of 
inquiry,  which  would  seem  to  render  its  attainment  well-nigh 
hopeless.  They  consist  riot  so  much  in  the  feebleness,  as  in 


24  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

the  complexity  and  disordered  condition  of  his  faculties.  He 
is  notoriously  a  being  of  fitful,  wayward,  and  impatient  will, 
and  of  turbulent  passions,  as  well  as  of  conscience,  affec- 
tion, and  vague,  but  occasionally  lofty,  aspiration.  And 
such  is  the  want  of  harmony  among  these  elements,  that 
his  breast  is  for  the  most  part  a  scene  of  wild  confusion ; 
nay,  of  actual  warfare,  between  the  moral  sense  and  the 
selfish  purpose,  the  dictates  of  reason  and  the  promptings 
of  appetite,  the  groveling  lust  and  the  aspiration  after 
unknown  good.  But  in  this  warfare,  alas !  as  the  history 
of  the  race  has  everywhere  shown,  the  forces  of  downward 
tendency,  where  man  is  left  to  himself,  really  enslave  and 
hold  in  bondage  those  that  might  otherwise  elevate  him  to 
knowledge  and  power. 

Such,  then,  is  the  condition  of  the  individual  mind,  and 
considered  by  itself,  without  now  bringing  into  view  those 
accumulated  barriers,  which  are,  as  we  shall  presently  show, 
crowded  in  the  way  of  truth,  by  the  aggregation  of  such 
minds  in  society,  it  is  obviously  most  unpropitious  for  suc- 
cessfully undertaking  a  search  into  the  hidden  things  of 
creation.  Energies  thus  discordant  are  manifestly  un- 
adapted  to  that  calm,  patient,  protracted,  ever-vigilant 
course  of  systematic  observation,  which  alone  could  con- 
duct previously  uninformed  man  to  a  point  whence,  amid 
hitherto  unresolved  confusion,  he  might  behold  even  one  of 
those  inner  bands  that  connect  the  wheels  of  nature's  vast 
machinery. 

And  there  is  another  characteristic  of  human  intelli- 
gence, somewhat  different,  which  incalculably  increases  the 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  25 

difficulty,  namely,  that  an  understanding  so  limited  must  aid 
itself  by  general  notions.  It  is  the  necessity  of  rational 
faculty  such  as  man's,  that  it  must  generalize.  Under  the 
pressure  of  particulars  endlessly  accumulated,  it  sinks  over- 
burdened and  exhausted.  And  hence,  will  it  ever  seek 
relief  in  contrivances,  however  arbitrary  or  delusive, 
for  arrangement  and  combination,  as  the  arm  avails  itself 
of  lever  and  pulley,  to  lift  masses  beyond  its  unassisted 
strength. 

Now  this  generalizing  tendency,  associated  as  it  is  with 
impatience,  and  other  disturbing  influences  in  the  mind, 
not  only  prevents  a  true,  but  leads  directly  to  a  false  phi- 
losophy of  investigation.  And  a  false  philosophy  once 
inaugurated  by  genius,  especially  if  adapted  to  the  very 
conditions  of  mind  and  of  nature  out  of  which  it  arose, 
as  almost  of  necessity  it  must  be,  is  little  likely  to  be 
rectified  merely  by  advancing  time.  Rather  would  it  be 
fastened,  most  probably,  on  human  thought  for  indefinite 
ages. 

How  such  delusive  system  would  arise  is  obvious.  Since 
generalizations  must  be  had,  and  there  is  neither  induce- 
ment in  the  appearances  of  nature,  nor  patience  in  restless 
human  beings,  to  seek  for  them  by  assiduous  observations 
on  actual  phenomena,  they  are  assumed  in  certain  abstract 
conceptions  of  the  mind.  And  then,  arbitrary  as  are  such 
assumptions,  and  wide  of  the  truth  as  they  may  be,  they 
become  the  very  engines  with  which  the  mind,  deluded  by 
their  imposing  show  of  potency,  works,  age  after  age, 

3 


26  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

upon  the  great  problems  of  nature,  very  much  as  a  band 
of  the  ancients  might  be  conceived,  battering  with  huge 
catapult  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar,  and  with  about  the 
same  result,  of  impotence,  failure,  and  despair. 

Of  such  assumed  generalizations,  of  the  readiness  with 
which  the  mind  of  the  race  becomes  enslaved  by  them,  and 
yet  of  their  impotency  toward  opening  the  treasures  of  na- 
ture, the  celebrated  system  of  Aristotle,  which  in  this  con- 
nection we  may  appropriately  designate  physical  logic,  and 
which  gave  law  to  mind  in  the  civilized  world  for  two  thou- 
sand years,  is  a  perpetual  monument.  And  the  agreement 
of  that  system  with  what  our  analysis  has  indicated  as  the 
natural  course  of  philosophy  which  man,  as  he  is,  unaided, 
would  evolve,  in  such  a  world  as  this,  strikingly  confirms 
the  truth  of  that  analysis. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  that  greatest  genius,  perhaps, 
of  antiquity,  solves  the  question  respecting  the  immuta- 
bility and  incorruptibility  of  the  heavens : 

"Mutation  is  either  generation  or  corruption.  Genera- 
tion and  corruption  only  happen  between  contraries.  The 
motion  of  contraries  is  contrary.  The  celestial  motions 
are  circular.  Circular  motions  have  no  contraries.  Be- 
cause there  can  be  but  three  simple  motions — to  a  centre, 
from  a  centre,  round  a  centre ;  and  of  three  things  only 
one  can  be  contrary  to  one ;  but  motion  to  a  centre  is 
manifestly  contrary  to  motion  from  a  centre;  therefore 
motion  round  a  centre,  that  is,  circular  motion,  remains 
without  a  contrary.  Therefore  celestial  motions  have  no 
contraries;  therefore  among  celestial  things  there  are  no 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  27 

contraries;  therefore  the  heavens  arc  eternal,  immutable, 
and  incorruptible." 

In  this  specimen  of  a  method,  the  inevitable  rise  of 
which  we  have  just  traced,  we  see  indeed  exercised  certain 
great  capacities  of -thought,  but  we  see  also  a  vain  conceit 
and  proud  self-confidence,  which  must  only  and  forever 
delude  ignorant  creatures  in  a  world  whose  complexity, 
like  the  adamantine  walls  of  some  grand  temple,  effect- 
ually hides  from  view  its  inner  wonders.  Into  that  temple 
there  is  only  one  entrance,  and  over  its  portals  is  inscribed, 
in  characters  never  to  be  effaced,  the  simple  ordinance : 
"Before  honor  is  humility."  "Access  to  the  kingdom  of 
man,  which  is  founded  on  the  sciences,"  says  Bacon,  with 
characteristic  felicity,  "resembles  that  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  where  no  admission  is  conceded  except  to  chil- 
dren." 

But  if  the  tendencies  of  the  individual  mind,  amid  intri- 
cacies so  perplexing,  thus  exclude  man  from  the  temple  of 
truth,  how  greatly  do  those  tendencies,  as  they  operate 
among  masses,  multiply  hindrances  in  the  way  to  that  inner 
entrance.  Here  arise  interests  which  sway  him,  complica- 
tions which  encompass,  and  necessities  which  control. 
Here  have  birth  endless  influences  which  stimulate  passion 
and  add  inveteracy  to  prejudice.  Here  irregular  desire 
and  impatient  will,  ambition  and  rivalry,  antagonism  and 
malignity,  while  unchecked  by  influences  which  earthly  wis- 
dom never  furnished,  seethe,  as  dire  elements  of  mischief, 
in  the  mighty  caldron  of  aggregated  humanity.  Hence 
usurpation  and  tyranny,  disquietude  and  contention,  rest- 


23  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

lessness  aud  revolution,  and  the  death-struggles  of  tribes 
and  nations,  in  perpetual  round  through  all  the  centuries. 

Surely,  under  such  conditions,  human  intelligence,  other- 
wise, as  we  have  seen,  sufficiently  disturbed,  is  about  as 
likely  by  its  own  glimmering  to  discover  the  way  to  wis- 
dom's treasure-house,  as  the  poor  mariner  in  frailest 
wicker-boat,  by  a  feeble  rushlight,  safely  to  track  the 
dark,  tempestuous  ocean,  lashed  to  fury  by  all  the  winds 
of  night. 

Such,  then,  are  the  causes,  deep  seated  in  the  nature  of 
things,  in  the  structure  of  the  world,  and  in  man  himself, 
which  so  inveterately  prevent  the  ascertainment  of  that 
simple  process,  whereby  modern  science  received  being, 
and  was  sent  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer.  They 
include  those  "idols  of  the  tribe,  of  the  den,  of  the  market, 
and  of  the  theatre,"  of  which  Bacon  delineated  the  mis- 
chiefs: the  passions  and  prejudices  common  to  all  men, 
which  he  calls  the  "idols  of  the  tribe;"  the  special  evils 
incident  to  particular  minds,  which  he  characterizes  as  the 
"idols  of  the  den;"  the  distortions  of  reason  occasioned 
by  disorders  in  society,  which  he  designates  the  "idols  of 
the  market;"  and  the  power  derived  by  false  principles 
from  deceptive  show  before  the  multitude,  which  he  de- 
nominates the  "idols  of  the  theatre." 

Now,  if  this  be  a  representation  of  the  case,  even  ap- 
proximately correct,  it  must  be  admitted  that  any  great 
influence  coming  in  to  control  these  tendencies,  to  awaken 
juster  thoughts,  to  suggest  principles  of  order  not  before 
apprehended,  to  allay  the  strife  in  man's  breast,  and  to 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  29 

quiet  the  turmoil  of  society,  to  loosen  the  iron  bands  of 
unlawful  authority,  and  to  whisper  in  the  ear  of  reason 
hints  of  a  true  method  of  inquiry,  could  not  but  tend  to 
open  the  way  to  the  dwelling-place  of  truth,  and  assist  the 
mind  in  gaining  access  thereto.  But  whence  could  such 
influence  come?  That  brilliant  speculative  philosophy 
nurtured  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Athenian  Pallas, 
peerless  acknowledged  among  achievements  of  unaided 
intellect,  proclaimed,  as  we  have  found,  with  voice  that 
may  ring  through  all  the  ages:  "It  is  not  in  me."  And 
he  that  will  listen,  hears  ever  echoed  back  this  voice,  from 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  the  Nile,  and  the  Tiber.  It 
comes  also  to  his  ear  from  the  frosty  wilds  where  were 
cradled  Alaric,  Attila,  and  Clovis,  and  from  the  sunny 
clime  that  cherished  the  arch-imposter  of  the  Koran.  But 
what  neither  Babylon,  Egypt,  Attica,  Italy,  Scythia,  nor 
Arabia  could  furnish,  has  gone  forth  from  the  hills  of 
Palestine,  to  illuminate  the  world  and  speak  order  into 
the  chaos  of  human  opinion,  to  hush  the  tempest  roar  of 
passion  and  bid  away  invincible  prejudice,  to  exemplify 
right  processes  of  testing  truth,  and,  in  throwing  open  for 
man  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  to  unbar  to  him  also  the 
kingdom  of  nature. 

This,  we  say,  the  Bible  was  adapted  to  do,  ever  tended 
to  accomplish,  and  ultimately  did  achieve.  Its  very  first 
sentence,  received  as  from  the  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth,  could  not  fail  to  carry  with  it  ideas  of  a  plan  that 
must  awaken  inquiry.  And  then  its  whole  series  of  provi- 
dence, and  prophecy,  and  law,  could  not  fail,  in  the  end, 

3* 


30  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

fully  to  confirm  such  ideas.  But  if  such  suggestions  con- 
cerning the  universe,  indirectly  given  by  its  Maker,  when 
revealing  himself  for  purposes  moral  and  spiritual,  were 
calculated  so  to  arouse  the  mind  and  present  it  with  in- 
ducements to  seek  for  order  in  the  Divine  works,  with  what 
inestimable  efficacy  to  the  same  end  are  not  those  wondrous 
doctrines  invested,  accompanied  as  they  are  by  vital  ener- 
gies, which,  in  disclosing  the  great  features  of  God's  moral 
government,  both  humble  and  elevate  the  human  spirit! 
Those  admirable  precepts,  also,  examples  and  promises, 
which  furnish  alike  the  rule  and  the  incentive  to  all  excel- 
lent action,  can  their  ultimate  influence  be  computed,  toward 
promoting  effective  intellectual  exertion,  by  harmonizing 
human  breasts  and  securing  peace  in  an  agitated  world  ? 

But,  besides  all  these  ways,  in  which  the  Bible,  though 
designed  for  other  ends,  was  calculated  to  dispel  a  false 
and  develop  a  true  philosophy  of  nature,  there  is  in  it  one 
other  marked  characteristic,  more  immediately  operative 
to  this  end,  perhaps,  than  all  the  rest.  The  simple  in- 
ductive method  of  determining  truth,  is  appealed  to  in  all 
its  teachings.  Significant  facts  agreeing  in  their  indica- 
tions, are  adduced  as  the  standard  of  a  right  judgment. 
"The  works  that  I  do,  they  bear  witness  of  me,"  was  the 
memorable  dictum  of  unerring  lips.  And  this  lesson,  as 
mighty  as  it  is  simple,  pervading  too,  as  it  does,  the  whole 
Bible,  could  not  go  abroad  in  the  world,  especially  in  con- 
junction with  all  else  that  the  inspired  word  discloses, 
without  in  the  end  overthrowing  the  "idols  of  the  tribe," 
"den,"  "market,"  xuid  "theatre,"  emancipating  the  mind 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  31 

from  the  chains  of  delusion  and  the  dungeon  of  ignorance, 
and  putting  in  its  hand  the  key  of  an  humble  but  truthful 
philosophy,  wherewith  to  unlock  the  great  palace  of  nature, 
and  give  free  access  to  its  richly-furnished  halls,  where  the 
sciences  wait  as  handmaids  to  dispense  to  mankind  refresh- 
ment and  comfort. 

And  now,  in  verification  of  the  argument  thus  derived 
from  the  nature  of  man,  of  the  world,  and  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  we  appeal  to  the  great  facts  embodied  in  the 
history  of  our  race.  And  as  an  appropriate  connecting 
link  between  the  a  priori  proofs  already  given  and  the 
evidence  from  facts  presently  to  be  offered,  we  adduce  the 
judgment,  indirectly  rendered,  by  one  who  is  certainly  not 
prejudiced  in  favor  of  our  view,  and  who  will  be  recognized 
as  no  less  reliable  for  his  intelligence  than  for  his  fairness 
in  the  cause.  In  his  statement,  it  will  be  seen  that  we 
have  not  over-estimated  the  tendency  of  such  disclosures 
and  influences  as  those  contained  in  the  Bible  to  guide 
aright  the  human  faculties  in  their  relation  to  nature. 
Humboldt,  in  his  sketch  of  the  intellectual  phenomena  of 
the  world,  thus  describes  the  state  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  mind,  as  contradistinguished  from  that  exhibited 
among  other  portions  of  the  human  family : 

"  It  is  characteristic  of  the  poetry  of  the  Hebrews,  that, 
as  a  reflex  of  monotheism,  it  always  embraces  the  universe 
in  its  unity,  comprising  both  terrestrial  life  and  the  luminous 
realms  of  space.  The  Hebrew  poet  does  not  depict  nature 
as  a  self-dependent  object,  glorious  in  its  individual  beauty, 
but  always  as  in  relation  and  subjection  to  a  higher  spiritual 


32  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

power.  Nat  are  is  to  him  a  work  of  creation  and  order,  the 
living  expression  of  the  omnipresence  of  the  Divinity  in 
the  visible  world.  Hence  the  lyrical  poetry  of  the  Hebrews, 
from  the  very  nature  of  its  subject,  is  grand  and  solemn; 
and  when  it  treats  of  the  earthly  condition  of  mankind,  is 
full  of  sad  and  pensive  longing.  Their  epic  or  historical 
narrations  are  marked  by  a  graceful  simplicity,  almost 
more  unadorned  than  those  of  Herodotus,  and  most  true 
to  nature;  but  their  lyrical  composition  is  more  adorned, 
and  develops  a  rich  and  animated  conception  of  the  life  of 
nature.  It  might  almost  be  said  that  one  single  Psalm 
(104)  represents  the  image  of  the  whole  Cosmos  .  .  .  We 
are  astonished  to  find  in  a  lyric  poem  of  such  limited  com- 
pass the  whole  universe  .  .  .  Similar  views  of  the  Cosmos 
occur  repeatedly  in  the  Psalms,  and  most  fully,  perhaps,  in 
the  ancient,  if  not  ante-Mosaic  book  of  Job.  The  me- 
teorological processes  which  take  place  in  the  atmosphere, 
the  formation  and  solution  of  vapor  according  to  the 
changing  direction  of  the  wind,  the  play  of  its  colors,  the 
generation  of  hail  and  of  the  rolling  thunder,  are  de- 
scribed with  individualizing  accuracy;  and  many  questions 
are  propounded  which  we,  in  the  present  state  of  our  phy- 
sical knowledge,  may,  indeed,  be  able  to  express  under 
more  scientific  definitions,  but  scarcely  to  answer  satis- 
factorily .  .  .  When  the  feelings  died  away,"  continues  the 
great  Prussian  savan,  "which  had  animated  classical  anti- 
quity, and  directed  the  minds  of  men  rather  to  a  visible 
manifestation  of  human  activity  than  to  a  passive  contem- 
plation of  the  external  world,  a  new  spirit  arose.  Chris- 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  33 

tianity  gradually  diffused  itself;  and  wherever  it  was 
adopted  as  the  religion  of  the  state,  it  not  only  exercised  a 
beneficial  influence  on  the  condition  of  the  lower  classes, 
by  inculcating  the  social  freedom  of  mankind,  but  also  ex- 
panded the  views  of  men  in  their  communion  with  nature. 
The  eye  no  loiger  rested  on  the  forms  of  the  Olympic 
gods.  The  Fathers  of  the  Church,  in  their  rhetorically 
correct,  and  often  poetically  imaginative  language,  now 
taught  that  the  Creator  showed  himself  great  in  inanimate, 
no  less  than  in  animate  nature ;  and  in  the  wild  strife  of  the 
elements,  no  less  than  in  the  still  activity  of  organic  de- 
velopment. It  was  thus  the  tendency  of  the  Christian 
mind  to  prove,  from  the  order  of  the  universe  and  beauty 
of  nature,  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  the  Creator ;  arid 
this  tendency  to  glorify  the  Deity  in  his  works  gave  rise 
to  a  taste  for  natural  observation.  And  although  the 
ancient  world  is  not  abruptly  separated  from  the  modern, 
modifications  in  the  religious  sentiments  and  tenderest 
social  feelings  of  men,  and  changes  in  the  special  habits 
of  those  who  exercise  an  influence  on  the  ideas  of  the  mass, 
must  give  a  sudden  predominance  to  that  which  might  pre- 
viously have  escaped  attention, 

Incidental  as  is  the  testimony  here  rendered  by  the 
venerable  philosopher  of  Berlin  to  the  important  truth  we 
are  exhibiting,  it  could  scarcely  be  more  striking  or  more 
significantly  to  the  point  had  his  special  object  been  to 
establish  that  truth.  He  finds  the  Scriptures  and  their 
great  disclosures  actually  producing,  on  a  scale  no  less 
than  grand,  the  very  effects  we  have  ascribed  to  them; 


34  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

placing  the  human  faculties  in  a  new  relation  to  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature,  and  starting  mankind  in  a  direction  sure 
ultimately  to  lead  to  a  true  philosophy  and  an  all-conquer- 
ing science. 

But  that  the  reality  of  this  influence  may  be  more  fully 
appreciated,  let  us  glance  at  some  of  the  decisive  facts  in 
the  history  of  ancient,  middle,  and  modern  ages. 

In  the  earlier  civilizations,  Hindoo,  Chinese,  Chaldee, 
Persian,  and  Egyptian,  not  immediately  moulded  by  Divine 
revelation,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  them,  it  is  certain 
that  there  were  no  approaches  toward  the  beginning  of  a 
process  which  might  place  the  powers  of  nature  in  the 
hands  of  men.  In  evidence,  we  adduce  that  land  of  tombs 
and  pyramids  where  the  native  tendencies  of  humanity 
worked  themselves  out  so  soon  and  so  signally.  The  cal- 
culating and  contriving  faculties  of  the  mind  were,  doubt- 
less, exercised  by  a  class  in  that  remarkable  country  with 
very  considerable  success ;  and  the  more  obvious  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  were  noticed  more  accurately,  per- 
haps, than  elsewhere.  Nor  would  we  by  any  means  under- 
rate such  attainments.  As  trophies  of  intellectual  vigor, 
they  are  undoubtedly  entitled  to  respect.  And  when  we 
find  Egypt  resorted  to  by  such  students  as  Thales  and 
Pythagoras,  Plato  and  Archimedes,  as  a  university  for  all 
the  learning  then  to  be  acquired,  we  may  readily  admit 
that,  in  the  comparative  quiet  of  the  Nile  valley,  men 
must  very  early  have  made  no  despicable  progress  in  cer- 
tain departments  of  thought  and  certain  exercises  of  skill. 
Still  it  is  undeniable  that,  save  in  the  one  direction  of  ab- 


SCIENCE   AND    REVELATION.  35 

stract  mathematics,  the  world  became  not  one  whit  the 
wiser.  As  to  awakening  a  single  influence  calculated  to 
evolve  at  last  a  true  philosophy  of  nature,  or  to  suggest  to 
mankind  a  true  method  of  inquiry,  it  all  amounted  to  ab- 
solutely nothing.  Of  this,  the  proof  is  entirely  conclusive, 
even  in  the  single  specimen  already  given  from  Aristotle 
of  preposterous  ingenuity  and  labored  nonsense.  For  that 
philosopher  had  at  command  all  the  lore  of  Egypt  and  of 
the  East,  as  well  of  his  own  more  favored  classic  land. 

Of  Grecian  culture,  and  its  relation  to  physical  investi- 
gations, the  illustration  that  has  been  given  may  readily 
spare  us  the  necessity  of  saying  much.  That  culture,  ad- 
mirable as  it  was  in  the  mere  aspect  of  mental  power  and 
polish,  and  memorable  as  will  ever  be  its  products  of  im- 
aginative beauty  and  speculative  genius,  furnished  not  one 
hint  that  might  help  humanity  to  a  conquest  over  nature. 
"While  the  earth  bears  upon  its  bosom  intelligent  creatures, 
emanations  will  reach  them  from  "the  blind  old  bard  of 
Scio's  rocky  isle,"  to  delight;  from  the  brilliant  intellect 
of  the  sage  of  the  Academy,  to  instruct ;  and  to  arouse  and 
animate,  from  the  fervid  glow  of  that  unrivaled  orator 

.     .     .     "  Whose  resistless  eloquence 
Wielded  at  will  the  fierce  Democratic, 
Shook  th'  arsenal,  and  fulmined  over  Greece 
To  Macedon  and  Artaxerxes'  throne." 

And  so  long  as  calculating  faculty  finds  exercise  in  the 
essential  relations  of  abstract  quantity,  the  works  of  Euclid 
and  Archimedes,  Apollonius  and  Diophantus,  will  remain 
the  recognized  foundation  of  the  mighty  structure  of  mathe- 


36  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

matics.  But  all  this  avails  nothing  in  man's  actual  relation 
to  the  intricacies  of  the  external  world.  Nay,  so  far  from 
lighting  him  through  these  to  the  hiding-place  of  truth, 
such  culture,  by  the  very  direction  in  which  it  set  the 
mind,  and  the  false  confidence  it  engendered,  hopelessly 
despoiled  man  of  his  earthly  heritage.  The  traveler 
gazing  upon  the  clouds  misses  the  diamond  that  sparkles 
at  his  feet.  And  the  occupant  of  a  stately  hall,  charmed 
with  its  artistic  adornment,  loses  the  glorious  prospect 
of  mountain  and  streamlet,  and  all  the  sweetness  of  earth 
and  sky,  that  may  be  spread  around  in  richest  profusion. 

And  if  deficiency  so  signal  as  to  any  sure  principle  of 
science  pervaded  all  Greek  civilization,  that  latter  evolved 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  only  served  to  perpetuate  and 
increase  the  evil.  Intense  action,  personal  and  public,  was 
the  very  life  of  Roman  progress.  Born  in  strife,  cradled 
in  armor,  and  nurtured  amid  conflicts,  the  people  of  Rom- 
ulus took  it  as  their  mission  to  subdue  the  world.  And 
the  spirit  thence  issuing  could  not  but  tell  alike  upon  their 
passions  and  their  policy.  No  retreat  was  left  for  patient 
wisdom  with  her  ceaseless  researches.  Of  the  immolation 
of  truth  on  the  altars  of  ambition  and- cruelty  by  imperial 
Rome,  her  armies  and  her  amphitheatre  tell  the  sad  story. 
"  The  peace  establishment  of  Hadrian  and  his  successors," 
we  are  informed  by  the  celebrated  author  of  the  "Decline 
and  Fall,"  "was  composed  of  no  less  than  thirty  formidable 
legionary  brigades,  and  most  probably  formed  a  standing 
force  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  men." 
And  with  this  gigantic  array  bloody  pastime  well  accorded. 


SCIENCE   AND    REVELATION.  37 

"Here  the  buzz  of  eager  nations  ran, 
In  murmured  pity,  or  loud-roared  applause, 
As  man  was  slaughtered  by  his  fellow-man. 
And  wherefore  slaughtered?     Wherefore,  but  because 
Such  were  the  bloody  circus'  genial  laws." 

Could  wisdom  find,  even  under  the  auspices  of  a  Tully 
and  a  Pliny,  a  home  where  multitudes  were  thus  inces- 
santly 

Butchered  to  make  a  Roman  holiday  ? 

No  wonder  Gibbon  has  himself  to  tell  us,  that  native 
philosophy  there  had  not  being.  This  is  his  decisive  testi- 
mony: "The  authority  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  of  Zeno 
and  Epicurus,  still  reigned  in  the  schools,  and  their  systems, 
transmitted  with  blind  deference  from  one  generation  of 
disciples  to  another,  precluded  every  generous  attempt  to 
exercise  the  powers  or  enlarge  the  limits  of  the  human 
mind."  And  this  continued  till,  as  decline  progressed,  he 
adds  more  emphatically,  "the  Roman  world  was  indeed 
peopled  by  a  race  of  pigmies,  when  the  fierce  giants  of  the 
North  broke  in  and  mended  the  puny  breed." 

With  the  final  extinction  of  the  Roman  empire  of  the 
West,  about  five  centuries  after  the  Christian  era,  and 
when  the  victorious  Northern  tribes  had  become  established 
in  the  countries  of  Western  Europe,  came  into  permanent 
operation  those  influences  which  conducted  the  people 
there  settled  through  the  dark  and  stormy  night  of  the 
middle  ages  to  the  dawn  of  modern  civilization.  And 
of  the  agencies  thus  operating,  Christianity  undeniably 
occupies  the  position  of  supreme  control.  Nay,  without 

4 


38  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

its  tranquilizing  and  transforming  power,  no  credulity 
can  conceive  that  from  a  deluge  of  barbarism  so  destructive 
could  have  emerged  a  brighter  intelligence,  and  a  more 
healthy  social  system,  than  the  world  had  ever  known. 
Gibbon  himself,  strangely  hateful  to  him  as  was  the  thought 
of  a  Divine  revelation,  and  restlessly  ingenious  as  he  was 
to  make  occasions  for  discrediting  it,  if  possible,  in  the 
eyes  of  mankind,  is  obliged  to  admit  this.  In  his  own 
words : — 

"The  progress  of  Christianity  has  been  marked  by  two 
glorious  and  decisive  victories;  over  the  learned  and 
luxurious  citizens  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  over  the 
warlike  barbarians  of  Scythia  and  Germany,  who  subverted 
the  Roman  empire,  and  embraced  the  religion  of  the 
Romans.  This  introduced  an  important  change  in  the 
moral  and  political  condition  of  the  conquerors.  They 
received,  at  the  same  time,  the  use  of  letters,  so  essential 
to  a  religion  whose  doctrines  are  contained  in  a  sacred 
book;  and  while  they  studied  the  divine  truth,  their 
minds  were  insensibly  enlarged  by  the  distant  view  of  his- 
tory, of  nature,  of  the  arts,  and  of  society.  The  version 
of  the  Scriptures  into  their  native  tongue,  which  had 
facilitated  their  conversion,  must  excite  among  their 
clergy  some  curiosity  to  read  the  original  text,  to  under- 
stand the  sacred  liturgy  of  the  church,  and  to  examine,  in 
the  writings  of  the  fathers,  the  chain  of  ecclesiastical 
tradition.  These  spiritual  gifts  were  preserved  in  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages,  which  concealed  the  ines- 
timable monuments  of  ancient  learning.  The  immortal 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  39 

productions  of  Yirgil,  Cicero,  and  Livy,  which  were  access- 
ible to  the  Christian  barbarian,  maintained  silent  inter- 
course between  the  times  of  Augustus  and  the  reigns  of 
Clovis  and  Charlemagne.  The  emulation  of  mankind  was 
encouraged  by  the  remembrance  of  a  more  perfect  state ; 
and  the  flame  of  science  was  secretly  kept  alive, to  warm 
and  enlighten  the  mature  age  of  the  Western  world.  In 
the  most  corrupt  state  of  Christianity,  the  barbarians 
might  learn  justice  from  the  law  and  mercy  from  the  Gos- 
pel ;  and  if  the  knowledge  of  their  duty  was  insufficient  to 
guide  their  actions,  or  to  regulate  their  passions,  they  were 
sometimes  restrained  by  conscience,  and  frequently  pun- 
ished by  remorse.  But  the  direct  authority  of  religion  was 
less  effectual  than  the  holy  communion  which  united  them 
with  their  Christian  brethren  in  spiritual  friendship,  and 
gradually  produced  the  similar  manners  and  common  juris- 
prudence which  have  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  man- 
kind the  independent  and  even  hostile  nations  of  modern 
Europe." 

Testimony  like  this,  from  one  so  unfriendly  to  religion,  is 
surely  doubly  significant. 

Even  more  decisive  is  that  of  a  writer  scarcely  less*  dis- 
tinguished, but  of  very  different  character,  whom  we  shall 
now  quote.  M.  Guizot  uses  this  language  : — 

"It  was  the  Christian  church,  with  its  institutions,  its 
magistrates,  its  authority,  which  struggled  so  vigorously  to 
prevent  the  interior  dissolution  of  the  empire,  which  strug- 
gled against  the  barbarians,  and  which,  in  fact,  overcame 
the  barbarians.  It  was  this  church,  I  say,  that  became  the 


40  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

great  connecting  link,  the  principle  of  civilization,  between 
the  Roman  and  barbarian  world.  Had  not  the  Christian 
church  at  this  time  existed,  the  whole  world  must  have 
fallen  a  prey  to  mere  brute  force." 

And  again,  after  a  wider  survey,  he  proceeds : — 

"The  church  has  exercised  a  vast  and  important  influ- 
ence upon  the  moral  and  intellectual  order  of  Europe, 
upon  the  notions,  sentiments,  and  manners  of  society  .  .  . 
Notwithstanding  all  the  evil,  all  the  abuses,  which  may 
have  crept  into  the  church,  notwithstanding  all  the  acts  of 
tyranny  of  which  she  has  been  guilty,  we  must  still  ac- 
knowledge her  influence  upon  the  progress  and  culture  of 
the  human  intellect  to  have  been  beneficial ;  that  she  has 
assisted  in  its  development  rather  than  its  depression,  in 
its  extension  rather  than  its  confinement," 

This  is  undoubtedly  just  So  far  as  she  departed  from 
the  sacred  guidance  that  had  been  left  her  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  church,  beyond  question,  impaired  her  influence 
for  good.  Abuses  did  thus  creep  in.  Acts  of  folly  and 
tyranny  were  perpetrated  by  her  in  the  name  of  the  All- 
wise  and  All-righteous.  But  still,  the  divine  truth  which 
she  lield,  and  in  considerable  measure  promulged,  illumin- 
ated and  moulded  the  world  with  unrivaled  power. 

And  among  other  benefits  conferred  on  mankind  by  rev- 
elation, even  as  impeded  by  the  errors  of  the  church,  and 
tending  to  that  intellectual  revolution  which  liberated  mod- 
ern mind,  first  in  the  Reformation,  and  then  in  the  birth  of 
Science,  may  be  mentioned  the  two  important  facts,  that 
all  the  schools,  and  nearly  all  the  authorship,  of  this 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  41 

period,  were  due  to  influences  derived  from  the  Scriptures. 
In  illustration  of  this  remark,  the  writings  and  the  institu-^ 
tions  of  the  great  Alfred  may  be  referred  to.  With  a 
devout  Christian  spirit,  and  a  wise  executive  energy,  he 
applied  himself  efficiently  to  such  measures  as  might  revive 
that  learning  in  England  which  the  incursions  of  the  Danes 
had  sadly  impaired.  And  to  this  end  he  became  both  a 
distinguished  author  and  an  extensive  founder  of  seats  of 
learning.  The  influences  under  which  he  did  this,  may  be 
seen  in  one  of  his  extant  letters,  written  to  the  bishop  of 
London  of  his  day.  "Calling  to  mind  what  benefit  had 
been  derived  by  all  nations  from  the  translation  of  the 
Greek  and  Hebrew  Scriptures,  first  into  Latin,  and  then 
into  the  various  modern  languages,"  he  concludes,  " there- 
fore I  think  it  better  that  we  also  translate  some  books  the 
most  necessary  for  all  men  to  know,  that  we  may  all  know 
them ;  and  we  may  do  this  with  God's  help  very  easily,  if 
we  have  peace ;  so  that  all  the  youth  that  are  now  in  Eng- 
land, who  are  freemen,  and  possess  sufficient  wealth,  may 
for  a  time  apply  themselves  to  no  other  task."  In  such  a 
spirit  he  is  said  to  have  re-established  many  of  the  old 
monastic  and  episcopal  schools,  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom.  Asser,  his  biographer,  expressly  mentions  that 
he  founded  a  seminary  for  the  sons  of  the  nobility,  to  the 
support  of  which  he  devoted  no  less  than  an  eighth  part  of 
his  whole  revenue.  And  this  is  believed  to  have  been  the 
foundation  of  the  illustrious  University  of  Oxford. 

Under  influences  very  similar,  and  in  nearly  the  same 
age,  were  established  the  schools  which,  in  a  few  genera- 

4* 


42  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

tions,  matured  into  the  magnificent  Universities  of  Bologna, 
of  Paris,  and  of  Cambridge.  And  of  their  effect  in  pro- 
moting liberal  learning  in  Europe,  at  the  time  when  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  Crusades  gave  place  to  the  enthusiasm 
of  study  which  succeeded  them,  some  idea  may  be  formed 
from  the  fact  that,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, "there  are  said  to  have  been  thirty  thousand  students 
at  the  University  of  Oxford,  while  that  of  Paris  could 
boast  the  attendance  of  a  still  vaster  multitude." 

That  the  Arabian  conquerors  of  Spain,  by  their  peculiar 
manifestation  of  activity,  contributed  to  the  mental  im- 
pulse thus  received,  is  not  to  be  denied.  And  the  service 
which  they  especially  rendered  to  European  mathematics, 
by  the  introduction  into  the  West  of  the  old  Eastern 
numerals,  should  he  candidly  acknowledged.  Still  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  that  the  potent  element  in  their  incom- 
plete civilization  was  but  a  reflex  of  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian revelations;  that  their  highest  culture  was  really 
derived  from  sources  which  the  Christian  church  had  pre- 
served ;  and  that  their  system,  so  far  from  being  able  to 
infuse  vitality  into  other  forms  of  human  society,  carried 
in  itself  the  seeds  of  a  sure  and  early  decay. 

Thus  was  it  that  Christianity,  through  many  struggles, 
moulded  the  mind  and  formed  the  genius  of  Europe,  in  its 
transition  age,  and  prepared  the  way  for  that  double  regen- 
eration which  ultimately  purified  religion  and  unbarred 
nature. 

To  two  great  men,  indeed,  it  was  given  to  inaugurate 
that  revolution.  Luther  was  doubtless,  in  some  sense,  the 


SCIENCE   AND    REVELATION.  43 

prophet  sent  for  the  purification  of  the  church,  and  Bacon 
was  the  ordained  herald  of  a  true  philosophy  of  investiga- 
tion. But  they  were  both,  in  fact,  only  the  exponents  of 
that  intellectual  maturity  to  which,  chiefly  by  the  ramified 
influences  of  His  word,  the  Almighty  had  providentially 
conducted  the  European  races.  And  had  no  "Brother 
Martin"  appeared,  or  "Baron  of  Yerularn,"  the  same  age, 
or  one  near  at  hand,  would  have  witnessed  a  revolt  both 
from  Rome  and  from  Aristotle,  a  Protestant  church  and  a 
Novum  Organum. 

Wickliffe  (1324-1384)  had  already  appeared  as  the 
morning  star  of  the  Reformation ;  and  Roger  Bacon 
(1214-1292)  as  the  pioneer  of  experimental  science. 
And  the  mere  juxtaposition  of  a  few  leading  names  will 
show  how  that  light  was  diffusing,  which  on  us  beans  in 
full  day  from  an  open  Bible  and  an  unvailed  universe. 

Copernicus  appeared  in  1413,  and  gave  publicity  to  his 
astronomical  conclusions  in  1543. 

Luther  was  born  in  1483,  and  published  his  theses  in 
1517. 

Kepler  lived  between  1571  and  1630. 

Galileo  from  1564  to  1642. 

And  Bacon's  great  work  appeared  in  1620-21. 

Thus  we  find  coexisting  in  about  one  century  the  great 
leaders  in  the  mighty  twofold  movement  of  modern  mind. 
Some  of  them  breathe  the  same  air  and  look  upon  the 
same  skies.  And  not  a  generation  intervenes  between  the 
first  and  the  last.  Surely  this  simple  fact  speaks  volumes 
as  to  the  common  influences  which  evolved  them  all ;  and 


44  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS    FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

exhibits  almost  to  the  eye  the  actual  birth  of  modern  sci- 
ence, in  the  transforming  agencies  so  long  exercised  by 
revealed  truth  upon  European  mind. 

And  the  principle  thus  exhibited,  we  may  now  see  ex- 
panding into  wider  compass.  That  branch  of  the  great 
European  family,  whose  whole  character  has  been  most 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  lessons  of  the  Bible,  takes  con- 
spicuously the  lead  in  every  department  of  physical  science. 
The  scientific  labors  of  other  nations  have  certainly  been 
in  some  instances  exceedingly  brilliant.  The  pure  and 
mixed  mathematics  of  France  must  especially  be  so  char- 
acterized. And  yet  in  physics  it  is  undeniable  that  with 
the  exception  of  here  and  there  a  happy  thought,  as  in  the 
memorable  discovery  of  Yolta  and  Galvani,  scarcely  more 
has  been  done  elsewhere  than  extend  English  researches 
and  verify  English  theories. 

In  physiology,  the  two  greatest  discoveries  ever  made 
were  by  philosophers  of  the  British  isle.  (See  these  and 
other  facts  forcibly  urged  in  an  able  "Discourse  on  the 
Baconian  Philosophy,"  by  Samuel  Tyler,  of  the  Maryland 
bar.)  Harvey,  the  contemporary  and  friend  of  Bacon, 
detected  the  circulation  of  the  blood  as  early  as  1628. 
And  Sir  Charles  Bell,  nearer  our  own  times,  distinguished 
between  the  nerves  of  sensation  and  those  of  motion. 
Sydenham  laid  the  foundation  of  medical  science,  and 
John  ITunter  that  of  comparative  anatomy.  And  Jenner 
evoked  that  simple  but  wondrous  secret  of  vaccination, 
which  has  disarmed  the  direst  disease,  perhaps  that  ever 
afflicted  humanity. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  45 

In  chemistry,  also,  Britons  have  taken  the  lead.  Dr. 
Black,  of  Edinburgh,  a  hundred  years  ago,  as  already  men- 
tioned, astonished  mankind  by  the  discovery  of  carbonic 
acid  gas,  and  soon  after  by  announcing  the  mysterious  but 
important  doctrine  of  latent  heat.  And  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  Dalton,  of  Manchester,  explained 
the  admirably  adjusted  law  of  chemical  equivalents. 
Priestley,  the  discoverer  of  oxygen  gas,  Watt  and  Caven- 
dish, who  ascertained  the  composition  of  water,  and,  above 
all,  Davy,  the  unrivaled  analyst  and  founder  of  agricultural 
chemistry,  were  all  Britons ;  as  was  Grey,  who  first  gener- 
alized electrical  phenomena. 

But,  far  more  than  all,  that  land  of  Bibles  and  of 
churches  gave  to  the  world  that  wonderful  man,  the 
enthroned  prince  of  all  the  philosophers,  to  whose  patient 
and  persuasive  hand  the  bright  sunbeam  yielded  the  secret 
of  the  painted  bow  and  of  all  the  sweet  colorings  of  earth; 
and  to  whose  calm,  attentive  eye  the  invisible  cords 
revealed  themselves  which  bind  together  the  material 
universe. 

And  while  such  has  been  the  unparalleled  progress  of 
physical  research  there,  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic,  under 
similar  auspices  of  Bible  Christianity,  we  behold  like 
results,  on  a  scale  to  attract  the  attention  of  mankind. 
Our  Franklin  has  disarmed  the  clouds.  Our  Fulton  has 
bridged  the  ocean,  and  freighted  every  river.  Our  Maury 
has  fenced  the  highways  of  the  sea  and  written  finger- 
boards upon  the  fitful  atmosphere.  Our  Brooke  has 
fathomed  the  great  deep,  and  uncovered  the  monuments 


46  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

of  its  ancient  dead.  And  our  Morse,  skillfully  applying 
the  electro-magnetic  discoveries  of  our  accomplished 
Henry,  has  taught  the  earth,  with  lightning  speed,  to 
whisper  messages  from  city  to  city  and  from  continent  to 
continent. 

And  this  is  all,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  fruit  of  that 
simple,  humble,  observant  philosophy,  which,  from  disor- 
dered faculty  in  a  complex  world,  could  receive  no  being; 
to  which  neither  Egypt,  nor  Greece,  nor  Rome,  and  far 
less  India  or  China  could  give  existence,  but  which,  born 
in  that  sacred  land  where  God  spake  with  men,  was  nur- 
tured through  the  ages  on  the  bosom  of  Christianity. 

Now,  what  arithmetic  can  calculate  the  debt  due  from 
mankind  to  the  Scriptures  of  truth  for  this  single  service  ? 
Take  them  away;  go  back  through  the  centuries,  and  ob- 
literate all  records  of  heaven's  glad  tidings,  leave  man 
only  to  himself  and  the  impenetrable  mysteries  around 
him ;  then  see  Egypt  buried,  Greece  in  ruins,  Rome  en- 
gulfed in  a  dark,  destructive  deluge,  and  naught  remaining 
but  the  wild  roar  of  angry  elements,  without  one  tranquil- 
izing  breath,  one  ark  of  refuge,  one  ray  of  hope ;  and  tell 
us  where  were  all  our  boasted  science  and  successful  phi- 
losophy ?  Hopelessly  gone  !  Lost  in  boundless,  irremedi- 
able night !  But  not  so.  He  whose  ways  with  man  are 
wise  and  merciful,  had  sent  a  messenger  that  could,  with 
silent  yet  controlling  voice,  speak  to  the  tempest  of  human 
passion,  "Peace,  be  still !"  had  constructed  a  life-boat  that, 
safely  riding  the  surging  billows,  should  bear  onward  to  a 
stable  resting-place  the  hopes  of  the  world ;  had  provided 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  4t 

a  diffusive  balm  for  the  healing  of  the  nations ;  had  issued 
that  word,  whose  first,  last,  and  every  utterance  is  with 
power,  "Let  there  be  light  I" 

Hence  the  existence  and  the  character  of  modern  civili- 
zation, the  development  of  true  philosophy,  the  emancipa- 
tion of  human  intellect,  the  success  of  well-directed  inves- 
tigation, and  the  multiplied  triumphs  of  advancing  science. 

Then  let  no  delusive  pride  of  intellect  mislead  the  vota- 
ries of  scientific  progress  into  irreverent  depreciation  of 
that  venerable  volume,  whose  pregnant  hints  and  signifi- 
cant suggestions  contain  the  germ  of  all  physical  discov- 
eries, and  whose  transforming  power  has  enabled  regener- 
ated society  to  achieve  those  discoveries,  and  with  them 
comfort  and  power. 

But  science  has  also,,  as  we  have  said,  reciprocated  the 
service  thus  received  from  religion.  She  has  rendered 
honor  to  the  source  of  her  being;  to  adorn  and  defend 
which,  indeed,  she  has  gathered  materials  from  all  the 
recesses  of  creation.  And  though  in  some  instances  the 
earlier  disclosures  seemed  to  threaten  discredit  rather  than 
confirmation  to  sacred  truth,  yet  in  proportion  as  research 
has  been  complete  in  every  department  of  physical  inquiry, 
the  result  has  been  to  elucidate  and  corroborate,  often  most 
surprisingly,  the  records  of  revelation. 

The  first  example  we  adduce  is  furnished  by  the  science, 
which  deals  with  the  most  obvious  yet  most  remote  of  all 
objects  of  contemplation,  and  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
universally  interesting,  as  it  was  the  earliest  considered 
department  of  human  inquiry.  It  is  true  that  the  Scrip- 


48  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

tares  and  Astronomy  have  not  many  points  of  contact, 
whereby  agreement  or  disagreement  between  them  may  be 
tested.  But  they  have  some.  And  these  furnish  very 
striking  indications.  At  first,  indeed,  through  a  contracted 
interpretation  given  by  some  in  authority,  to  that  simple 
and  truthful  language  of  appearance,  employed  in  sacred 
as  in  common  narrative,  men,  "knowing  neither  the  Scrip- 
tures nor  the  power  of  God,"  feared  lest  Galileo's  telescope 
should  reveal  things  in  conflict  with  the  Divine  Word. 
And  that  fear  was  the  parent  of  much  wickedness  as  well 
as  of  much  folly.  But  as  mankind  must  credit  the  evidence 
of  their  senses ;  and  as  the  sphere  of  vision  now  enlarged 
by  the  tube  of  the  old  Tuscan  seer,  placed  before  the  eyes 
of  men  demonstration  evident  of  those  celestial  motions, 
which  reflection  had  taught  Copernicus  to  embody  in  the- 
ory, the  petty  dogmas  which  ignorance  attempted  to  chain 
upon  the  Bible  had  to  be  given  up ;  and  a  more  compre- 
hensive view  of  certain  grand  indications,  which  the  unri- 
valed Book  had  always  offered  to  notice,  much  more  than 
vindicated  the  superhuman  wisdom  of  the  ancient  record. 
While  the  absurd  systems,  like,  that  a  specimen  of  which 
has  been  adduced  from  Aristotle,  laboriously  constructed  by 
speculative  genius  in  early  ages,  have,  with  advancing  dis- 
covery, been  more  and  more  signally  exposed,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  Scriptures,  on  the  same  subjects,  so  speak  as 
that  every  additional  disclosure  in  the  heavens  lends  greater 
significancy  to  their  language  on  the  whole.  Do  they  point 
to  the  glorious  luminary  of  day  as  the  appropriate  symbol 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  ?  Forthwith  they  exhibit 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  49 

this  Spiritual  Sun  as  the  center  around  which  revolves  the 
entire  system  of  Christian  truth,  and  life,  and  blessedness. 
And  are  not  those  great  discoveries  of  Kepler  and  New- 
ton, which  show  a  mighty  array  of  planets  and  satellites 
moving  forever  round  the  sun,  here  shadowed  forth  ?  At 
the  same  time  does  not  the  grandeur  of  order  and  power 
in  this  mechanism  of  worlds,  wondrously  expand,  to  human 
appehension,  the  significance  of  the  spiritual  system,  and 
glorify  Him,  who  is  at  once  its  bond,  its  light,  and  its  life  ? 
Does  the  Bible  propose  to  men  the  inquiry,  "Knowest 
thou  the  ordinances  of  heaven  ?"  And  are  there  not  inti- 
mated in  the  words,  realities  of  settled  order  and  universal 
law,  the  fullness  of  which  human  faculty,  astonishing  as 
may  be  its  achievements,  can  never  explore  ?  And  when, 
with  magic  mirror,  the  Herschels,  Lord  Rosse,  and  kin- 
dred explorers,  have  read  the  secrets  of  the  stellar  spaces, 
have  they  not  seen  written  there  this  very  question  put  to 
old  Job  ?  When  they  have  tracked  revolving  sun- worlds, 
at  distances  that  figures  refuse  to  tell,  and  light  itself  almost 
fails  to  traverse,  and  have  resolved  innumerable  patches  of 
scattered  star-dust  and  floating  star-cloud  into  myriads  of 
sun-systems,  regulated  by  laws  which  the  Calculus  of 
Leibnitz,  in  the  hands  of  Laplace,  forever  declines  to 
reveal,  have  they  not  read  in  that  question  a  still  grander 
significance  ?  And  when,  by  certain  way-marks  in  the  sky, 
they  have  reckoned  that  incredible  motion  of  nearly  half  a 
million  of  miles  per  day,  which  is  bearing  our  sun,  with 
all  his  retinue  of  planets,  toward  an  unknown  point  in  or 
near  the  constellation  Hercules,  how  or  why,  save  to  suggest 

5 


50  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS  FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

it  as  a  general  result  of  universal  gravitation,  wildest  conjec- 
ture dares  not  answer,  have  they  not  learned,  by  a  teaching 
never  to  be  forgotten,  that  after  his  last  achievements  in 
the  stars,  man,  as  the  Bible  had  told  him  it  should  be, 
knows  only  in  part  the  ordinances  of  heaven  ?  But  this, 
too,  they  have  learned,  just  as  the  sweet  Singer  of  Israel  so 
long  ago  chanted,  though  peradventure  with  a  sublimity 
of  meaning  even  beyond  that  which  had  been  caught  by 
his  enraptured  spirit,  and  a  sublimity  ever  heightening  as 
more  is  known :  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  !" 

Thus  does  astronomy  interpret  and  establish  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 

And  no  less  striking,  while  still  more  numerous,  are  the 
explanations  and  confirmations  of  the  sacred  record  fur- 
nished by  that  science  which  evokes  from  the  bosom  of  the 
earth  her  buried  secrets.  Here,  too,  rigid  and  restricted 
system  had  narrowed  to  a  hand-breadth  the  mighty  mean- 
ing of  the  grand  old  documents.  And  a  timid  faith,  fee- 
ble because  fearful,  dishonored  the  very  cause  it  professed 
to  serve,  by  distrusting  its  ability  to  stand  every  test,  and 
protecting  its  trembling  belief  by  embittered  denunciation. 
But  again,  mankind  must  credit  their  senses.  And  the 
history  of  pre-Adamite  ages,  found  written  on  the  uncov- 
ered rocks,  enforced  a  more  candid  and  comprehensive 
reading  of  the  entire  Scriptures;  and  then  was  seen,  in  all 
the  astonishing  precision  and  fullness  of  its  meaning,  that 
marvelous  series  of  intimations  which  the  Bible  had  all 
along  given  of  ante-human  cycles  of  being;  and  with 
which  some  of  the  old  fathers  had  been  so  deeply  im- 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  51 

pressed.  Does  Moses  speak  of  successive  intervals  in  the 
progress  of  creation  ?  It  is  the  most  conspicuous  fact 
in  all  geology.  Does  he  describe  a  certain  order  of  ad- 
vance in  organized  forms,  from  "the  herb  yielding  seed 
after  its  kind,"  to  "the  creeping  thing  that  had  life,"  and 
"the  great  sea-monsters,"  and  "winged  fowl,"  and  from 
these  to  the  "great  beasts  of  the  earth,"  and  "cattle 
after  his  kind,"  and  then  lastly  to  man,  the  crown  and  lord 
of  all  ?  Geology,  with  precision  truly  wonderful,  displays 
altogether  the  same  advance,  and  in  exactly  the  same 
order.  Here  are  seen  characterizing  lower  formations, 
certain  simple  botanical  species  and  low  animal  forms,  am- 
plifying upward  into  the  enormous  carboniferous  flora  and 
its  accompaniments ;  then  the  huge  fish,  reptiles,  birds,  and 
other  egg-bearing  creatures,  during  many  ages ;  next,  the 
mighty  mastodon,  and  mammoth  and  gigantic  beasts  of 
various  kinds,  and,  lastly,  existing  flower  and  fruit-bearing 
plants,  and  the  animal  forms  associated  with  man,  and 
himself  latest  and  highest  of  all.  Assuredly  this  corre- 
spondence between  the  strata  of  geology  and  the  narrative 
of  Genesis  is  one  of  the  most  surprising  confirmations  con- 
ceivable of  the  Divine  verity  of  the  Mosaic  history. 

But  again,  do  the  Scriptures,  in  repeated  instances, 
speak  so  remarkably  of  the  creative  ages  in  the  sense  of 
worlds,  as  if  there  had  been  a  succession  of  forms  given 
at  different  times  to  the  same  world ;  and  do  they  variously 
repeat  the  idea,  by  grand  allusions  to  an  unmeasured  anti- 
quity, and  a  transformed  earth?  Geology  finds  those  pro- 
digious ages,  those  extended  and  recurring  periods,  and 


52  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

those  successive  transformations,  indelibly  recorded  in  the 
monumental  rocks.  And  more  instructively  still,  if  possi- 
ble. Does  the  Bible  continually  exhibit  those  interposi- 
tions of  immediate  agency,  on  the  part  of  the  Almighty, 
which  modify  the  general  course  of  natural  laws,  and 
which  we  designate  Providence ;  nay,  does  it,  in  fact,  con- 
sist of  a  history  of  such  interpositions  in  regard  to  man- 
kind ?  And  what  more  conclusive  illustration  of  special 
agency,  precisely  similar  in  principle,  can  be  imagined, 
than  the  fossil  history  furnishes  ?  Here  is  seen  occurring, 
again  and  again,  what  no  general  laws  have  ever  produced. 
A  whole  universe  of  living  creatures  disappear,  buried 
beneath  the  sands  of  the  seas  in  which  they  have  sported, 
or  the  ruins  of  the  hills  on  which  they  have  roamed ;  and 
races  appear,  not  only  unlike,  and  of  altogether  different 
species,  but  absolutely  opposite  in  almost  every  attribute  of 
being.  How  is  this  ?  There  is,  certainly,  by  natural  law, 
no  transformation  of  species.  It  can  only  occur  by  imme- 
diate creative  power.  If  physiological  research  has  settled 
any  point  beyond  controversy,  it  is,  that  such  are  the  uni- 
versal laws  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  that  no  one  dis- 
tinct species  can  ever,  by  mere  natural  agencies,  be  trans- 
muted into  another.  As  well  might  the  earth  be  expected, 
merely  by  the  operation  of  gravity  and  other  like  proper- 
ties, to  clothe  itself  with  a  resplendent  ether,  and  send 
forth  controlling  powers  of  light  and  life  upon  a  new  sys- 
tem of  worlds,  as  that  from  the  ruins  of  primeval  ferns 
should  have  sprung  our  forest  oaks;  our  eagle,  soaring  to 
the  sun,  from  the  insect  that  sipped  some  humble  flower  in 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  53 

the  early  world ;  or  man,  with  all  his  faculties,  from  some 
groveling  reptile  of  a  past  existence.  These  changes,  then, 
revealed  by  geology,  these  destructions  and  reproductions, 
these  burials  of  old,  and  creations  of  new  races,  exhibit  in 
a  light  which  science  fully  recognizes,  that  very  direct 
agency  of  God  in  the  government  of  the  world,  the  history 
of  which,  in  its  relation  to  mankind,  constitutes  the  great 
burden  of  Scripture.  So  that,  never  has  the  human  mind 
been  called  to  contemplate  a  more  signal  confirmation  of 
truth  than  is  furnished  to  the  Scriptures  by  the  accumula- 
ting developments  of  geology. 

So,  again,  is  it  in  the  department  of  meteorology.  Lieut. 
Maury,  after  all  that  research  has  disclosed  concerning  the 
phenomena  of  the  atmosphere,  sums  up  his  conclusions  in 
these  emphatic  words :  "  The  Bible  tells  it  all  in  a  single 
sentence  !  '  The  wind  goeth  toward  the  South  and  turneth 
about  unto  the  North:  it  whirleth  about  continually;  and 
the  wind  re  turneth  again  according  to  his  circuits.'" 

Nor  are  such  testimonials  rendered  alone  by  the  sciences 
separately.  There  are  surprising  relations  between  dif- 
ferent branches  of  science,  which  no  less  strikingly  eluci- 
date and  corroborate  the  Bible.  For  instance,  all  readers 
have  remarked  how  very  characteristic  are  certain  repeti- 
tions of  numbers,  in  the  Scriptures,  as  7,  10,  12,  40,  etc. 
And  there  have  not  been  wanting  those  who  were  ready  to 
regard  this  feature  of  the  sacred  books  as  a  sure  mark  of 
human  contrivance  in  the  narrative.  But  many  sciences 
at  once  appear,  bearing  concordant  testimony  to  the  ex- 
istence of  a  numerical  adjustment,  precisely  similar,  in  the 

5* 


54  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

heavens,  in  the  earth,  and  among  all  creatures.  In  the 
planetary  motions,  Kepler's  third  law  has  long  since  an- 
nounced a  double  multiplication  of  times  in  constant  pro- 
portion to  a  triple  multiplication  of  distances.  In  botany 
it  is  found  that  the  leaf  appendages  of  all  plants  are 
arranged  according  to  the  numerical  series,  1,  2,  3,  5,  8, 
etc.,  in  which  any  two  consecutive  numbers,  added  to- 
gether, make  the  next  succeeding.  And  in  physiology  it 
is  ascertained  that  10  marks  the  digits  of  all  creatures 
with  hands  or  divided  feet,  and  7,  the  number  of  bones  in 
the  neck  of  all  mammalian  vertebrata,  whether  whale  or 
giraffe,  elephant  or  human  subject.  Chemistry  tells  us 
that  there  is  not  a  breath  of  air  that  trembles  in  the  great 
atmospheric  ocean,  nor  a  drop  of  spray  that  sparkles  on 
the  briny  deep,  nor  a  particle  of  any  compound  substance 
on  the  globe,  which  is  not  constituted  according  to  a  defi- 
nite law  of  numbers.  And  optics  assures  us  that  there  is 
a  like  numerical  constancy  in  the  colors  of  heaven's  beau- 
teous bow.  Thus  has  general  science,  to  such  inquirers 
as  Kepler  and  Xewton,  and  Cuvier  and  Dalton,  and  De 
Candolle,  revealed,  as  pervading  all  nature,  a  numerical 
system  precisely  analogous  to  that  which  constitutes  so 
remarkable  a  feature  of  the  Bible.  And  such  principles  of 
co-ordination  in  the  word  and  works  of  God,  we  can 
readily  perceive  to  be  admirably  adapted  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  man's  mind.  It  is  an  arrangement  in  each  case 
exactly  suited  to  finite  intelligence.  It  lends  distinctness 
to  the  association  of  facts ;  it  helps  the  intellect  to  grasp 
truth,  and  the  memory  to  retain  it.  It  strikes  the  fancy 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  55 

of  youth,  interests  the  mature  niind,  and  so  wraps  salutary 
recollections  around  the  decaying  faculties  of  age  as  to 
lighten  its  burdens  and  irradiate  its  gloom. 

One  other  instance  we  adduce,  of  peculiar  correspondence 
between  the  teachings  of  Scripture  and  the  conclusions  of 
general  science.  The  inspired  history,  as  is  familiar  to  all, 
affirms  that  "  God  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  that  dwell 
on  the  face  of  the  earth;"  that  however  now  diverse  in 
feature,  color,  and  other  subordinate  characteristics,  and 
of  speech,  how  various  soever  the  human  tribes  that 
people  the  globe,  they  all  constitute  but  one  family,  de- 
scended from  a  common  ancestry.  This,  scientific  research 
in  its  earlier  and  partial  stage  seemed  to  discredit,  by  the 
apparently  radical  and  irreconcilable  differences  of  structure, 
capacity,  and  language,  between  extreme  races,  which  it  ex- 
hibited. Nor  were  there  wanting  those  who  eagerly  seized, 
as  some  indeed  still  do,  such  indications,  as  a  pretext  for 
indulging  a  relentless  enmity  against  the  moral  system  of 
revelation.  But  just  in  proportion  as  investigation  has 
been  complete  in  every  branch  of  inquiry  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  national  or  tribal  origin,  as  the  whole  range  of 
ethnology  has  become  really  scientific,  its  testimony  has 
proved  thoroughly  corroborative  of  the  Scripture  doctrine. 
It  is  a  wide  field,  embracing  in  its  scope  applications  of 
almost  every  branch  of  human  knowledge.  But  ably  has 
it  been  explored.  Nor  is  there  left  a  shadow  of  doubt,  as 
to  the  truth,  on  the  minds  of  the  first  men  of  the  world, 
in  every  department  of  the  investigation.  Comparative 
anatomy  and  physiology  through  their  great  high-priests, 


56  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS    FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Cuvier  and  Owen,  have  spoken  with  oracular  voice,  "Man 
is  one."  Travel,  custom,  and  minutely  verified  archaeology, 
as  traced  by  the  admirable  Prichard,  have  delivered  the 
same  declaration.  And  monumental  history  has,  with 
response  precisely  accordant,  replied  to  the  interrogatives 
of  the  Humboldts  and  Lepsius,  Bunsen,  Schoolcraft,  and 
Gallatin. 

And  particularly  striking  is  the  evidence  furnished  by 
that  branch  of  monumental  history  which  is  contained  in 
language.  The  scientific  methods  by  which  this  has  been 
elicited,  first  suggested  by  the  sagacious  mind  of  Leibnitz, 
have,  within  our  generation,  been  pursued  with  an  enthu- 
siasm and  success  second  to  that  exhibited  in  no  other 
pursuit.  It  has  been  but  a  few  years  since  a  Russian 
grammarian,  the  heroic  Castren,  (see  seq.  Human 
Family,  p.  81,)  although  in  delicate  health,  left  his  study, 
traveled  for  months  alone  in  his  sledge  through  the  snowy 
deserts  of  Siberia,  coasted  along  the  borders  of  the  Polar 
Sea,  lived  whole  winters  in  caves  of  ice,  or  in  the  smoky 
huts  of  greasy  Samoieds,  then  braved  the  sand-clouds  of 
Mongolia,  passed  the  Baikal,  and  returned  homeward  by 
the  frontiers  of  China ;  that  he  might,  in  so  vast  a  sweep, 
gather  materials  for  the  expanding  science  of  comparative 
philology.  From  such  an  instance,  we  at  once  perceive 
with  what  zeal  this  branch  of  knowledge  has  been  recently 
pursued.  And  the  result  is  thus  glowingly  sketched  by  a 
distinguished  German  scholar: — 

"If,  now,  we  gaze  from  our  native  shores  over  that  vast 
ocean  of  human  speech,  with  its  waves  rolling  on  from 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  57 

continent  to  continent,  rising  under  the  fresh  breezes  of  the 
morning  of  history,  and  slowly  heaving  in  our  own  more 
sultry  atmosphere,  with  sails  gliding  over  its  surface,  and 
many  an  oar  plowing  through  its  surf,  and  the  flags  of 
all  nations  waving  joyously  together ;  with  its  rocks  and 
wrecks,  its  storms  and  battles ;  yet  reflecting  serenely  all 
that  is  beneath,  and  above,  and  around  it;  if  we  gaze, 
and  hearken  to  the  strange  sounds  rushing  past  our  ears 
in  unbroken  strains,  it  seems  no  longer  a  wild  tumult,  or 
Jwrjpt0fjiov  y&aff/jia,  but  we  feel  as  if  placed  within  some 
ancient  cathedral  listening  to  a  chorus  of  innumerable 
voices,  and  the  more  intensely  we  listen,  the  more  all  dis- 
cords melt  away  into  higher  harmonies,  till  at  last  we  hear 
but  one  majestic  trichord  or  a  mighty  unison,  as  at  the  end 
of  a  sacred  symphony. — Such  visions  will  float  through  the 
study  of  the  grammarian,  and  in  the  midst  of  toilsome 
researches  his  heart  will  suddenly  beat,  as  he  feels  the  con- 
viction growing  upon  him,  that  men  are  brethren  in  the 
simplest  sense  of  the  word,  the  children  of  the  same  father, 
whatever  their  country,  their  color,  their  language,  or  their 
faith." 

This,  from  Professor  Miiller,  is  the  latest  utterance  of 
linguistic  science. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  atmosphere 
and  the  ocean,  and  all  the  processes  of  life,  and  all  the 
monuments  of  history,  return,  in  answer  to  the  calm,  saga- 
cious, impartial  cross-questionings  of  scientific  inquiry,  one 
clear,  full,  harmonious,  decisive  testimony  to  the  truth, 
grandeur,  and  preciousness  of  Divine  revelation. 


58  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  tribute  received  by  religion  from 
advancing  science.  It  is  the  untiring  scribe,  with  magic 
finger,  to  copy  for  all  the  tribes  of  earth,  in  their  several 
tongues,  the  messages  sent  them  by  their  Maker.  And  it  is 
the  dauntless  colporteur,  of  swift  foot  and  unflagging 
energy,  to  bear  those  recorded  messages  to  every  isle  of 
the  ocean  and  every  land  of  the  globe. 

Such,  then,  are  the  relations  which  the  Scriptures  and 
Science  sustain  toward  each  other  and  to  the  welfare  of 
mankind.  The  one  is  the  mighty  moral,  the  other  the 
great  material  element  of  human  progress.  The  one  is 
primary  and  essential,  the  other  subordinate,  but  greatly 
subsidiary.  The  one,  though  mainly  designed  as  man's 
guide  to  a  higher  and  more  blessed  existence,  has,  by 
direct  suggestion,  and  by  a  regulating  influence  over  dis- 
ordered faculties,  placed  reason  in  a  position  to  grapple 
with  the  problems  of  the  world.  The  other,  in  solving 
those  problems,  has  not  only  evoked  from  Nature's  trea- 
sure-house, and  placed  in  human  hands,  vastest  appliances 
for  efficiency  and  enjoyment,  but  has  brought  from  every 
corner  of  creation  lights  to  illuminate  the  sacred  pages, 
voices  to  swell  the  chorus  of  praise  to  their  Divine  Author, 
and  hands  to  bear  to  the  remotest  habitation  of  our  planet 
the  venerable  records  of  revelation.  By  the  one,  is  opened 
the  way  to  spiritual,  by  the  other,  to  natural  good.  That 
tells  us  of  our  unseen  but  gracious  Father  in  heaven,  and 
of  a  future  glorious  home  with  Him.  This  shows  us 
tokens  of  His  greatness  and  goodness,  in  the  wondrous 
structure  of  our  probationary  dwelling-place.  Upon  the 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  59 

dark  mystery  of    mortality  the   revealed  Word   sheds  a 
blessed  light.     In  tones  of  authority  it  bids  into  submis- 
sion wayward  and  unhallowed  passion.     It  whispers  peace 
to  the  troubled  breast,  and  on  the  anxious,  trembling  spirit, 
binds  the  wings  of  eternal  hope.    It  takes  the  soul  into  the 
very  presence  of  that  "  Friend  who  sticketh  closer  than  a 
brother,"  and  kindles  in  the  heart  that  flame  of  love  which 
is  earth's  sweetest  blessing  and  heaven's  highest  bliss.     To 
our  children  it  gives  the  first,  best,  and  grandest  lessons, 
while  over  all  domestic  joy  it  casts  a  sacred  shield.     It 
secures  our  sabbath  rest,  and  charges  with  sweet  music 
every  breeze  that  wafts  the  sound  of  the  "church-going 
bell. "     Of  all  wholesome  law  it  is  the  strength,  and  of  all 
social  order  the  guardian.     It  is  the  pledge  of  gladness  in 
the  bridal  scene,  and  at  the  bedside  of  death  the  only 
voice  of  comfort.    It  sweetens  all  existence,  and  surrounds 
even  the  grave  with  bright  visions  of  faith.     Unhappy  the 
people,  and  most  wretched  the  man,  to  whom  the  Divine 
word   is  not   thus  wisdom   and   life  1     But  without  the 
triumphs  of  Science,  too,  there  is  amazing  loss.     By  these 
are  opened  the  portals  of  nature's  mighty  temple,  and  men 
behold  there  mirrored  forth  the  glory  of  their  Maker.     By 
these  fire  and  air,  earth  and  sky,  winds  and  waves,  with 
energies  exhaustless,  are  made  willing  servants  to  human 
creatures.     By  these  we  have  victory  over  darkness  and 
distance,  over  Arctic  frost  and  tropical  drought,  and  over 
sterile  soils  and  unpropitious  seasons.     These  minister  to 
the  hungry,  food;  covering  to  the  unclothed;  and  to  the 
houseless,  shelter.     Here  heart  and  intellect  may  find  ex- 


60  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

ercise  in  a  boundless  field,  and  heroic  enterprise  can  gather 
richest  rewards.  Here  wealth  immeasurable  is  poured  into 
the  lap  of  civilization,  and  the  church  finds  multiplied 
without  limit  the  means  of  fulfilling  her  Lord's  last  com- 
mand to  "preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

And  since  this  is  the  real  truth  of  the  case  between 
Science  and  Religion,  since  they  actually  sustain  relations  so 
significant  toward  each  other  and  toward  Heaven's  benign 
purposes  for  mankind,  we  may  certainly  conclude,  in  the 
language  of  so  sound  a  thinker  and  so  forcible  a  writer  as 
Dr.  McCosh,  that — 

"It  is,  assuredly,  no  useless  or  profane  work  that  is 
engaged  in  by  those  who  would,  with  proper  humility, 
endeavor  to  remove  jealousies  between  parties  whom  God 
hath  joined  together,  and  whom  no  man  is  at  liberty  to 
put  asunder.  .  .  .  We  are  not  lowering  the  dignity  of  science 
when  we  command  it  to  do,  what  all  the  objects  it  looks  at 
and  admires  do,  when  we  command  it  to  worship  God. 
Nor  are  we  detracting  from  the  honor  which  is  due  to 
religion  when  we  press  it  to  take  science  into  its  service.  .  .  . 
Let  not  science  and  religion  be  reckoned  as  opposing 
citadels,  frowning  defiance  upon  each  other,  and  their 
troops  brandishing  their  armor  in  hostile  attitude.  Each 
has  its  own  foundation.  These  let  them  unite,  and  the 
basis  will  be  broader,  and  they  will  be  two  compartments 
of  one  grand  fabric  reared  to  the  glory  of  God.  Let  the 
one  be  the  outer  and  the  other  the  inner  court.  In  the 
one  let  all  look,  and  admire,  and  adore ;  and  in  the  other 
let  those  who  have  faith  kneel,  and  pray,  and  praise.  Let 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  61 

thjs  one  be  the  sanctuary  where  human  learning  may  pre- 
sent its  richest  incense  as  an  offering  to  God;  and  the 
other  the  holiest  of  all,  separated  from  it  by  a  vail  now 
rent  in  twain,  and  in  which,  on  a  blood-sprinkled  mercy- 
seat,  we  pour  out  the  love  of  a  reconciled  heart,  and  hear 
the  oracles  of  the  living  God." 


DISCUSSION  II. 

THE   HUMAN   FAMILY. 

THE  scientific  determination  of  an  actual  family  relation- 
ship among  all  varieties  of  human  beings,  has  been  briefly 
stated  in  the  foregoing  essay.  On  a  subject,  however,  of 
such  importance,  an  additional  discussion,  simple  and  yet 
full,  clear  but  condensed,  may  be  useful.  Especially  in 
view  of  the  strenuous  claims  in  behalf  of  the  diversity 
theory,  put  forth  before  the  American,  and  particularly 
the  Southern  public,  within  the  last  few  years,  and  urged 
with  triumphant  confidence,  alike  in  winged  pamphlet  and 
ponderous  quarto,  under  cover  of  an  immense  parade 
of  boasted  science;  and  recently  sanctioned,  though  with 
apologetic  caution,  by  at  least  one  of  the  writers  admitted 
to  the  dignified  associations  of  the  "  Smithsonian  Contri- 
butions to  Knowledge."  (See  vol.  viii.  pp.  1, 105,  159.) 

In  the  present  essay,  therefore,  we  propose  to  investigate 
with  some  thoroughness  the  issue  thus  presented;  to  ex- 
amine the  subject  in  several  aspects;  and  to  indicate  the 
general  considerations  and  the  special  scientific  processes 
by  which  such  great  master-models  of  vast  and  accurate 
research  as  the  Humboldts,  Prichard,  Chevalier  Biinsen, 
and  Professors  Lepsius  and  Owen,  have  been  brought  to 
the  conclusion,  fully  agreeing  with  the  established  senti- 
ment of  Christendom,  that  men,  under  all  varieties,  are 
(G2) 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  63 

but  of  one  stock;  that  the  human  race  is,  iu  fact,  one 
family  from  a  common  ancestry. 

The  alternative  to  this  doctrine,  proclaimed  in  the  recent 
publications  referred  to,  is  sufficiently  distinct.  Their 
authors  contend  that  "men  were  created  in  nations,  and 
not  in  a  single  pair."  (Types  of  Mankind,  p.  82.)  That 
they  have  no  common  original  nature,  no  essentially  agree- 
ing rational  constitution,  and  no  comprehensively  designed 
merciful  arrangement  for  their  general  improvement  in  the 
present  life  and  for  their  joint  participation  of  a  higher 
future  existence.  That  some  are  absolutely,  and  uncon- 
ditionally, "inferior,"  and  not  only  "born  to  be  ruled," 
but  "destined  to  live  and  prosper,"  merely,  "till  a  superior 
destroying  race  shall  come  to  exterminate  and  supplant 
them,  and  that  no  philanthropy,  no  legislation,  no  mission- 
ary labors,  can  change  this  law."  (pp.  19,  etc.) 

That  these  sentiments  are  seriously  in  conflict  with  the 
admirable  moral  tone  of  the  Scriptures,  the  equitable  spirit 
of  modern  civilization,  and  the  benign  energy  of  Christian 
heroism,  need  scarcely  be  suggested.  And  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  if  scientific  processes,  fairly  conducted, 
do  really,  in  this  instance  and  in  this  manner,  utterly  break 
up  the  moral  fabric  which  the  wisdom  of  ages  has  sanctioned, 
and  put  a  final  extinguisher  upon  the  best  motives  and 
highest  hopes  of  humanity,  it  is  not  only  a  "new  thing 
under  the  sun,"  but  a  most  strange  and  portentous 
anomaly  in  the  course  of  human  experience. 

For  this  controlling  reason,  then,  at  the  outset,  we  are 
constrained  to  distrust  the  conclusions  now  referred  to,  as 


64  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

unsound,  and  the  methods  by  which  they  are  reached  as 
not  genuinely  scientific.  And  here  we  are  reminded  of 
what,  with  his  accustomed  felicity,  a  distinguished  author 
characterizes  as  a  species  of  superstition  attached  to  the 
notion  of  science,  as  if  it  were  an  indescribable  magical 
something,  different  in  itself  from  accurate  and  classified 
knowledge  systematically  deduced  from  unquestionable 
principles  and  established  facts.  A  moderate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  habitual  tendencies  of  the  superficial,  though 
so-called  scientific  speculation  of  the  day,  may  satisfy  any 
mind  of  the  justness  of  this  profound  remark. 

Science,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  a  very  humble  as 
well  as  calm  and  patient  laborer;  whether  with  Newton 
gathering  pebbles  on  the  shore  of  the  great  ocean  of  truth, 
or  with  Bacon  seeking  admission  to  the  kingdom  of  nature, 
as  it  is  said  a  higher  kingdom  must  be  sought,  with  the 
docile  spirit  of  a  simple-hearted  child.  When,  therefore, 
we  find  large  claims  proudly  put  forth  in  the  name  of 
science,  tending  to  revolutionize  the  practical  moral  con- 
victions of  mankind,  and  to  annihilate  the  benignant  sym- 
pathies and  actuating  motives  of  humanity,  the  very  incon- 
gruity of  the  procedure  brings  it  at  once  into  suspicion  as 
erroneous  and  unreliable. 

In  addition  to  this  general  consideration  requiring  the 
most  serious  questioning  of  the  proposed  theory,  we  have 
a  further  special  but  kindred  reason,  in  its  bearing  upon 
our  peculiar  Southern  institution,  for  meeting  it  with  dis- 
trust and  subjecting  it  to  unconfiding  scrutiny. 

The  sacred  code  which  guides  the  conscience  of  Chris- 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  C5 

tendom,  and  which  is,  beyond  question,  incomparably  the 
surest  directory  to  duty,  in  all  human  relations,  is  at  once 
our  authoritative  reply  to  all  misguided  assailants  of  our 
position  as  providentially  in  charge  of  a  form  of  servitude 
every  way  remarkable,  and  our  acknowledged  standard  of 
the  obligations  connected  with  that  position.  And  so  long 
as  we  abide  by  the  sanctions  of  this  code,  whatever  de- 
luded enthusiasts  and  corrupt  agitators  may  pretend,  we 
have  with  us  not  only  the  decisive  voice  of  constitutional 
law,  but  the  undisturbing  acquiescence,  if  not  the  full  ap- 
proval, of  the  enlightened  Christian  mind  throughout  the 
world.  Right-minded  people  may  indeed  believe  that  the 
golden  Christian  rule  tends  toward  the  abatement  of  as- 
perity and  the  remedying  of  oppression  in  all  human  rela- 
tions, and  cherish  the  pleasing  hope  that  as  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  more  and  more  prevails,  equity  and  kindness 
will  more  and  more  ameliorate,  everywhere,  the  condition 
of  the  more  burdened  portions  of  society.  But  they  can- 
not on  any  scriptural  ground  believe  in  a  wild  theory  of  ab- 
solute personal  equality,  destructive  of  social  order,  and 
rushing  headlong  into  universal  anarchy.  Nor,  despite 
the  fervid  declamation  and  fiery  denunciation  so  much  in- 
dulged within  the  last  half  century,  can  they  believe  that 
the  Creator  sanctioned  sin,  when  he  legislated  for  slaves, 
in  old  Abraham's  house,  and  under  the  Jewish  common- 
wealth. (See  Genesis,  xvii.  12;  Exodus,  xxi.  21,  etc.) 
And  when  he  caused  to  be  recorded  in  the  New  Testament 
such  reiterated  injunctions  to  masters  to  treat  their  slaves 
considerately  and  kindlv  and  to  servants  religiously  to 

G* 


G3  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

obey,  even  under  the  severest  species  of  bondage.  (See 
Eph.  vi.  5;  Col.  iii.  22;  1  Tim.  vi.  1 ;  Titus,  ii.  9;  1  Peter, 
ii.  18,  etc. 

It  is  a  striking  and  instructive  fact  that  the  fierce 
assailants  of  the  South,  and  its  institution  so  peculiar 
and  so  effective  in  elevating  the  negro  race,  should  have 
found  it  necessary  to  direct  their  batteries  against  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  either  in  the  way  of  insane  transcen- 
dentalism, with  one  class  of  contestants,  or  of  "higher- 
law"  atheism  and  "  irrepressible-conflict"  instigation,  with 
another,  or  of  atrocious  blasphemy,  with  a  third,  or  with 
perhaps  a  still  more  numerous  assemblage,  of  pious  senti- 
mentalism  conjoined  with  applauded  falsehood,  treason, 
and  murder. 

Thoroughly  satisfied,  as  we  are,  by  the  intrinsic  and  ex- 
trinsic evidences  attending  the  sacred  code — evidences 
profoundly  reverenced  by  the  giant  intellects  of  Bacon, 
Xewton,  Milton,  and  Locke,  and  unhesitatingly  admitted 
by  the  common  sense  of  the  leading  portion  of  mankind — 
that  the  sanctions  of  that  code  rest  on  an  immovable  basis 
of  truth,  we  cannot  deem  it  right  or  wise  or  becoming, 
and  we  cannot  consent,  that  the  defenses  of  our  posi- 
tion be  transferred  from  this  foundation  of  rock  to  the 
shifting  quicksands  of  less  than  doubtful  theories.  It  is  in 
our  view  wholly  untrue,  and  we  will  not  even  tacitly  allow 
ignorance  and  prejudice  the  moral  advantage  of  represent- 
ing, that  Southern  servants  are  held  only  as  a  higher  race 
of  qurangs,  not  really  contemplated  in  the  authoritative 
precepts  on  which  the  morality  of  Christendom  is  founded. 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  6t 

The  question,  then,  as  presented,  is  one  which  does  not 
admit  of  indifference,  on  account  of  its  obvious  bearing 
upon  our  special  position  as  Southerners,  as  well  as  upon 
the  moral  and  higher  relations  of  men  everywhere. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  it  is  very  far  from  necessary 
to  mingle  in  its  treatment  passion  and  prejudice.  Indeed, 
under  various  conditions  has  it  been  again  and  again  exam- 
ined by  naturalists,  with  entire  dispassionateness,  as  a  gen- 
eral matter  of  scientific  interest;  and  although,  in  the 
progress  and  result  of  these  inquiries,  "we  observe,"  as 
remarked  by  Dr.  Morton,  (Crania  Americana,  p.  2,)  "that 
diversity  of  opinion  which  is  so  frequent  in  human  re- 
searches," yet  has  the  investigation  been,  for  the  most  part, 
conducted  as  a  fair  search  after  truth, — Yirez  supposing 
he  had  ascertained  two  species,  Desmoulins  eleven,  Borey 
thirteen,  and  others  a  still  greater  number  of  original 
kinds,  among  men ;  while  Linnaeus,  Blumenbach,  Cuvier, 
and  other  distinguished  students  of  nature  became  settled 
in  the  conviction  of  a  strict  unity  in  the  human  family. 

Among  investigators  in  this  department  of  research,  the 
celebrated  Dr.  James  Cowles  Prichard  stands  unrivaled  as 
a  model  of  freedom  and  fairness  of  mind,  associated  with 
virtuous  reverence  for  everything  good,  cautious  examina- 
tion conjoined  with  discriminating  sagacity,  and  the  most 
amazing  accumulation  of  intelligence  covering  the  whole 
field  of  inquiry.  Setting  out  with  full  confidence  in  the 
great  principle,  that  "truth  can  never  be  found  ultimately 
in  opposition  to  truth, "he  devoted  the  energies  of  a  sound 
mind,  sustained  erudition,  and  the  persistent  endeavors 


SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   TIIE   BIBLE. 

of  a  long  life,  to  exploring  the  wide  range  of  fact  in  all 
branches  of  knowledge  affecting  his  ultimate  problem,  phy- 
sical, physiological,  psychological,  historical,  and  philologi- 
cal ;  and  after  the  most  copious  induction  of  this  kind,  un- 
der the  requirements  of  an  inexorable  logic,  he  was  brought 
to  a  result  thus  announced  in  the  closing  words  of  his  last 
work:  "We  are  entitled  to  draw  confidently  the  conclusion, 
that  all  human  races  are  of  one  species  and  one  family." 

"Prichard,"  says  Biinsen,  "will  not  be  forgotten  in  the 
annals  of  history.  His  works  contain  the  best  and  clear- 
est discussion  of  all  the  elements  of  natural  philosophy 
which  bear  upon  the  great  question  of  the  unity  of  the 
human  race.  His  ethnological  inquiry  is  conducted  on  the 
basis  of  a  clear  geographical  and  ethnological  exposition, 
in  which  the  critical  reforms  introduced  by  Hitter,  Klap- 
roth,  and  others,  are  adopted  with  independent  judgment. 
In  the  linguistic  portion  he  availed  himself,  generally,  of 
the  most  thorough  critical  researches,  and  made  use  of  the 
best  materials  which  continental  and  English  glossaries 
and  observations  offered  to  him.  He  had  sound  knowl- 
edge of  Greek,  Latin,  German,  etc.,  and  good  taste  in 
selecting  and  naming  his  authorities.  But  his  great  merit 
is  his  excellent  good  sense  and  sound  judgment.  ...  As  it 
stands,  his  work  is  the  best  of  its  kind.  .  .  .  Up  to  the 
present  moment,  (1854,)  there  is  no  book  which  treats  the 
question  with  equal  depth  and  candor." 

These  characteristics  of  Prichard's  mind,  method,  and 
conclusions,  we  wish  to  be  particularly  marked:  his  "ex- 
cellent good  sense,  and  sound,  independent  judgment;" 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  69 

his  care  to  collect  the  most  abundant  "observations,"  and 
avail  himself  of  "the  most  thorough  critical  researches;" 
his  substantial  "knowledge,"  the  "depth"  of  his  convic- 
tions," the  "clearness"  of  his  thoughts,  and,  above  all,  the 
"candor"  of  his  spirit. 

It  is  in  association  with  precisely  this  style  of  character, 
this  order  of  mind,  and  this  reliable  application  of  the  in- 
ductive philosophy,  that  genuine  scientific  results  are  to  be 
looked  for  in  the  future,  as  they  have  been  displayed  in  the 
past. 

And  it  is  with  unfeigned  regret  that  we  find  ourselves 
constrained  to  remark  upon  the  characteristics,  so  opposite 
to  these,  of  certain  industriously  circulated  and  insidiously 
indorsed  (see  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  vol. 
viii.  p.  81,)  publications  of  the  last  year  or  two,  which, 
especially  as  the  production  in  part  of  Southern  talent, 
we  had  very  much  rather  find  worthy  of  unqualified  com- 
mendation. In  these,  for  the  most  part,  there  are  not 
only  blemishes  of  the  most  serious  nature,  but  improprie- 
ties of  tone  and  purpose  so  marked  and  so  extensive  as  un- 
avoidably to  weaken,  if  not  actually  to  neutralize,  their 
claims  to  scientific  authority.  Prejudice  and  passion  are 
stamped  too  conspicuously  on  their  pages  to  be  overlooked 
by  the  most  casual  observer;  and  it  must  always  be  in  vain 
for  the  noble  triumphs  of  science  to  be  claimed  by  authors 
who  exhibit  such  tokens  of  disturbed  or  clouded  reason. 
In  proof  that  we  censure  thus  not  unadvisedly,  and  that 
the  cause  of  truth  requires  these  traits  to  be  understood, 
we  adduce  a  few  specimens. 


TO  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR  THE   BIBLE. 

One  of  these  writers,  Dr.  Patterson,  in  his  memoir  of 
the  distinguished  naturalist,  Dr.  Morton,  thus  mingles  in- 
tense feeling  with  philosophical  discussion  ;  alluding  to  an 
instance  of  violence  by  one  of  the  Western  tribes,  in  which 
a  valuable  life  was  lost,  he  says :  "  We  have  had  too  much 
of  sentimentalism  about  the  red  man.  It  is  time  that  cant 
was  stopped  now.  Not  all  the  cinnamon-colored  vermin 
west  of  the  Mississippi  are  worth  one  drop  of  that  noble 
heart's  blood."  Here  is  stereotyped  passion  in  the  terms 
"cant"  and  "vermin." 

In  like  manner,  and  in  reference  to  a  higher  subject,  an- 
other, Dr.  Xott,  gives  vent  to  a  spirit  of  no  little  bitter- 
ness: "On  former  occasions  we  had  attempted  to  con- 
ciliate sectarians,  and  to  reconcile  the  plain  teachings  of 
science  with  theological  prejudices.  In  return,  our  opin- 
ions and  motives  have  been  misrepresented  and  vilified  by 
self-constituted  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion.  We 
have,  in  consequence,  now  done  with  all  this ;  and  have  no 
longer  any  apologies  to  offer,  nor  favors  of  lenient  criticism 
to  ask.  The  broad  banner  of  science  is  herein  nailed  to 
the  mast.  Even  in  our  own  brief  day,  we  have  beheld  one 
flimsy  religious  dogma  after  another  consigned  to  oblivion, 
while  science,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  gaining  strength 
and  majesty  with  time." 

Abusive  epithets  are  here  accumulated  with  an  angry 
energy  that  almost  pants  in  its  eagerness.  "Sectarians," 
" theological  prejudices,"  "vilified,"  "apologies,"  "fa- 
vors," "flimsy  religious  dogmas"  bespeak  an  excitement 
of  mind  manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  self-possession  of 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  l 

reason,  the  composure  of  philosophy,  and  the  dignity  of 
science.  A  calm,  clear  intellect,  assuredly  is  indispensable 
to  trustworthy  scientific  investigation.  And  though  we 
may  not  absolutely  hold  that  your  true  philosopher  is 

"A  man  whose  blood 
Is  very  snow-broth  ;  one  who  never  feels 
The  wanton  stings  and  motions  of  the  sense, 
But  doth  rebate,  and  blunt  his  natural  edge 
With  profits  of  the  mind,  study,  and  fast ;" 

yet  must  he  be  in  general,  and  doubly  in  reference  to  great 
questions  he  professes  to  elucidate, 

"Free  from  gross  passion." 

Another  individual,  less  distinguished  but  more  notorious 
than  the  writers  already  quoted,  makes  arrogant  mockery, 
profane  jesting,  and  boastful  denunciation  the  chief  staple 
of  his  contributions  to  ethnology,  as  if  they  were  legiti- 
mate adjuncts  of  scientific  inquiry.  And  he  has  actually 
had  the  fatuity  to  stamp  upon  his  own  pages  with  his  own 
hand  the  brand  of  a  revengeful  and  belligerent  temper. 
"It  has  so  happened,"  says  Mr.  Gliddon,  on  the  last  page 
of  his  book,  "  that  my  surname  has  been  frequently  made 
the  target  for  indiscreet  allusions  on  the  part  of  certain 
theologastii,  without  any  provocation  having  been  given 
on  my  side,  through  a  single  personality,  in  the  course  of 
ten  years'  lectureship  upon  Oriental  Archeology  in  the 
United  States.  To  treat  such  in  any  other  manner  than 
with  silent  indifference,  would  have  been  unbecoming,  as 
well  as  at  the  moment  of  each  offense  unavailing.  I  pre- 
ferred my  own  convenience,  and  in  the  foregoing  pages  I 


72  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

have  indicated  an  easy  way  of  'carrying  the  war  into 
Africa.'"  Whatever  may  be  said  of  this  in  other  aspects, 
no  one  can  question  that  it  indicates  a  most  unreliable  state 
of  micd  for  a  man  who  professes  to  deal  scientifically  and 
destructively  with  the  most  important  verities  embraced  in 
the  range  of  human  intelligence. 

Xor  are  these  the  only  prima  facie  reasons  for  distrusting 
the  processes  and  conclusions  of  the  class  of  works  under 
consideration.  In  them  all  there  is  implied,  and  in  some 
avowed,  discipleship  of  the  phenomenal  atheistic  philoso- 
phy of  Comte,  known  as  positivism.  And  this  necessarily 
throws  the  theory  of  "creation  in  nations"  into  the  cate- 
gory of  Lamarck's  development  hypothesis,  and  the  specu- 
lations of  the  "Yestiges  of  Creation."  Since  it  is  clear, 
that,  if  no  Creator  is  acknowledged,  there  can  be  no 
"creation"  meant  in  any  true  sense.  And  the  notion,  after 
all,  involved  in  the  scheme  really  is,  that  in  some  inexpli- 
cable, inconceivable  way,  men  merely  appeared  in  nations, 
without  having  been  created  at  all.  They  only  happened 
— without  a  true  causation — or  waked  up  from  sleeping 
stocks,  unaccountably  animated,  or  grew  out  of  ourangs, 
which  had  grown  out  of  frogs,  which  had  been  developed 
from  eternal  monads  under  the  blind  decrees  of  a  Dead 
Fate. 

The  issue  of  the  theory — that  every  region  had  originally 
its  tribal  autochthons — in  some  such  absurdity  as  this, 
might,  indeed,  have  been  inferred  from  the  consideration 
that  such  theory  is  directly  in  conflict  with  the  relations  of 
means  and  ends  involved  in  any  economy  of  creation  and 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  73 

providence.  It  being  well-nigh  incredible  that  a  presiding 
intelligence  would,  in  the  act  of  endowing  an  order  of 
creatures  with  energies  and  impulses  adapted  to  endless 
self-multiplication,  produce  them  in  countless  numbers. 

But  though  the  Lamarckian  hypothesis  might  thus  have 
been  inferred  as  involved  in  the  indefinite  autochthon  the- 
ory, it  is  the  avowal  of  atheism  under  the  guise  of  Comte's 
phenomenal  scheme,  which  converts  that  inference  into 
something  of  an  acknowledged  conclusion. 

A  conclusion,  however,  so  universally  rejected  by  the 
common  sense  of  mankind,  as  well  as  thoroughly  refuted 
by  the  demonstrations  of  logic  and  the  proofs  of  science, 
(see  the  admirable  discussions  in  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  Ele- 
ments of  Geology,  and  in  Hugh  Miller's  Footprints  of  the 
Creator,)  is  not  of  course  willingly  and  fully  confessed. 
And  it  is,  perhaps,  but  justice  to  the  parties,  to  admit  that 
they  have  not  fully  considered  the  relation  between  their 
theory  and  the  atheistic  philosophy  to  which  some  of  them 
have  committed  themselves.  This  is  the  less  unlikely,  from 
the  indications  they  give  that  their  acquaintance  with 
Comte's  system  is  derived  mainly  from  the  meagre  and 
partial  synopsis  contained  in  G.  H.  Lewes's  "Biographical 
History  of  Philosophy."  This  is  the  only  exposition  of  pos- 
itivism which  they  quote.  If  fully  aware,  moreover,  of  the 
position  they  were  assuming,  they  could  hardly  have  ranged 
themselves  so  complacently  among  those  whom  a  well-in- 
formed reviewer  (North  British  Review,  May,  1854,)  so 
justly  characterizes  as  "  a  cohort  of  narrow-minded  enthu- 
siasts and  half-believing  admirers,  who,  on  the  authority 


74  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

of  Mill  and  Lewes,  are  taking  the  atheistic  positivism  as 
their  creed,  while  it  is  unnoticed  by  the  profoundest  minds 
of  the  age." 

Xor  could  they  have  claimed,  with  such  supreme  satis- 
faction, to  have  passed,  under  Comte's  leadership,  "beyond 
that  undeveloped  stage  of  the  reasoning  faculties  classified 
as  theological,"  and  to  have  taken  their  place  "among  the 
educated  who  are  creating  new  religions  for  themselves," 
had  they  not  been  ignorant  of  the  pregnant  fact,  that  the 
latest  development  of  their  master's  system,  and  of  the 
vaunted  process  of  education  toward  "creating  new  reli- 
gions," is  an  actual  return  to  the  very  lowest  form  of  "the- 
ological" folly.  That  Comte  himself,  the  denier  of  a  God, 
under  the  desolation  of  bereavement,  when  Madame  Clo- 
tilde  de  Yaux,  the  object  of  his  love,  was  torn  from  him 
by  death,  sought  relief  for  an  aching  heart  in  the  most 
absurd  Fetischism  of  his  own  construction ;  human  beings, 
and  the  higher  beasts,  in  the  aggregate  of  their  vitality, 
constituting  his  god,  and  Madame  Clotilde,  under  some 
fanciful  notion,  a  supreme  goddess. 

Whether,  however,  aware  or  unaware  of  all  this,  these 
writers  are,  by  the  simple  fact  of  giving  it  unconditional 
indorsement,  more  than  abundantly  discredited  as  trust- 
worthy explorers  of  truth.  If  in  possession  of  the  whole 
case,  they  have  deceived ;  if  not  so  possessing  it,  they  have 
trifled  with  their  readers.  And  in  either  event  there  is 
most  culpable  unfairness.  Authors  who  venture  to  deal 
destructively  with  the  practical  groundwork  of  human  con- 
victions, and  to  substitute  what  they  are  bold  enough  to  pro- 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  75 

claim  a  better  system,  which,  notwithstanding,  they  have 
not  half  examined,  are  egregiously  misleading,  and  may 
be  fatally  deluding  all  who  accept  their  proffered  guid- 
ance. 

In  all  these  improprieties  of  tone,  manifestations  of  tem- 
per, and  proofs  of  prejudice,  which  we  are  compelled  to 
notice  as  pervading  the  discussions  connected  with  the 
diversity  doctrine  in  its  latest  phase,  we  find  inevitable 
considerations  of  conclusive  cogency,  forbidding  any  ready 
acceptance  of  that  doctrine.  And  these  considerations, 
superadded  to  the  associations  which  it  involves,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  the  absurdities  of  Lamarck's  hypothesis — 
and  to  its  injurious  bearing,  previously  indicated,  upon  the 
moral  code  of  Christendom — and  the  securest  sanctions  of 
our  Southern  social  organization,  make  out  so  strong  a 
case  of  priina  facie  practical  impossibility  against  the 
theory,  that  every  right-minded  man  may  at  once  feel  justi- 
fied in  setting  it  aside  as  satisfactorily  shown  to  be  unten- 
able and  untrue. 

This  mode  of  reaching  the  conclusion,  however,  though 
doubtless  sound,  and  perhaps  satisfactory  to  those  every- 
where-to-be-respected  individual  minds  whose  determina- 
tions are  governed  by  the  seldom-erring  practical  logic  of 
common  sense,  may  not  suffice  as  an  ultimate  exposition 
for  that  class  of  inquirers  who  look  to  a  scientific  solution 
of  the  important  problem.  We  shall  therefore  need  no 
apology  for  going  more  thoroughly  into  an  analytical  exam- 
ination of  the  entire  question,  to  the  full  extent,  indeed,  of 
the  moderate  limits  we  believe  best  adapted  to  usefulness. 


76  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Our  method  will  be,  to  scrutinize  the  principal  considera- 
tions relied  upon  by  the  advocates  of  the  diversity  theory ; 
and  then  to  adduce,  in  order,  the  chief  evidences  which 
establish,  in  our  judgment  conclusively,  the  specific  unity 
and  organic  identity  of  all  varieties  of  the  human  family. 

The  first  proposition  urged  in  support  of  the  diversity 
doctrine  is,  that  some  very  marked  and  otherwise  unac- 
countable relation  exists,  throughout  the  habitable  globe, 
between  the  flora  and  fauna  of  different  districts,  as 
grouped  by  nature,  independently  to  a  great  degree  of 
climate,  and  the  distribution  of  human  varieties.  This 
proposition  rests  mainly  upon  the  authority  of  Professor 
Agassiz,  a  gentleman  for  whose  abilities  and  attainments 
we,  in  common  with  all  who  are  even  partially  acquainted 
with  the  scientific  achievements  of  the  age,  entertain  very 
high  respect,  but  whose  suggestions  on  points  touching  the 
natural  history  of  man  must  be  regarded  as  far  from  con- 
clusive. Partly  because  his  special  range  of  study  has 
lain  in  another  field ;  partly  because  he  has  exhibited  in 
this  department  a  fanciful  and  fluctuating  genius,  now  in- 
clining to  one  and  now  to  another  opinion ;  and  partly  be- 
cause in  the  very  act  of  lending  his  name  and  influence  to 
the  doctrine  that  men  "  were  created  in  nations,"  he  admits 
an  enduring  doubt  as  to  an  original  diversity  at  all.  "/ 
still  hesitate,"  are  his  words,  in  the  very  paper  announcing 
the  proposition  now  in  view,  on  "  Provinces  of  the  Animal 
World,  and  their  Relations  to  the  Types  of  Man,  1854," 
"/  still  hesitate  to  assign  to  each  (variety)  an  inde- 
vendent  origin."  To  appreciate  the  force  of  this  doubt, 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  77 

we  must  take  it  in  connection  with  a  favorite  and  elo- 
quently urged  conviction  of  this  eminent  zoologist.  "We 
recognize,"  he  says,  (Christian  Examiner,  January,  1850,) 
"the  fact  of  the  unity  of  mankind.  It  excites  a  feeling 
that  raises  men  to  a  most  elevated  sense  of  their  connection 
with  each  other.  It  is  but  the  reflection  of  that  divine  na- 
ture which  pervades  the  whole  being.  It  is  because  men 
feel  thus  related  to  each  other,  that  they  acknowledge  those 
obligations  of  kindness  and  moral  responsibility  which  rest 
upon  them  in  their  mutual  relations.  Where  the  relation- 
ship of  blood  has  ceased,  do  we  cease  to  acknowledge  that 
general  bond  which  unites  all  men  of  every  nation  ?  By 
no  means.  This  is  the  bond  which  every  man  feels  more 
and  more  the  farther  he  advances  in  his  intellectual  and 
moral  culture,  and  which  in  this  development  is  continually 
placed  upon  higher  and  higher  ground — so  much  so,  that 
the  physical  relation,  arising  from  a  common  descent,  is 
finally  lost  sight  of  in  the  consciousness  of  higher  moral 
obligations.  It  is  this  consciousness  which  constitutes  the 
true  unity  of  mankind."  Nobly  said,  certainly,  in  vindica- 
tion of  oneness  of  nature  in  all  men,  and  in  inconsistency, 
most  sound-judging  persons  will  think,  with  strenuous 
advocacy  of  diversity  of  origin.  For,  why  the  needless 
multiplication  of  miracle  in  giving  being  to  a  prolific  crea- 
ture, indeutical  in  nature,  in  a  thousand,  or  a  hundred,  or 
ten  simultaneous  or  successive  different  pairs,  or  "nations," 
in  so  many  regions  of  the  earth  ?  Such  expenditure  of 
special  power  is  assuredly  not  in  accordance  with  the  anal- 
ogies of  Providence.  No  wonder  the  distinguished  phi- 
7* 


78  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

losopher  "hesitates  to  assign  to  each  human  variety  an  in- 
dependent origin."  To  his  main  proposition,  therefore, 
sustaining  the  idea  of  manifold  autochthon  tribes,  no  great 
weight  can  be  attached,  nor  to  the  particulars  supposed  to 
establish  it. 

The  exact  words  of  Agassiz,  in  stating  his  thesis,  are: 
"  That  the  boundaries  within  which  the  different  natural 
combinations  of  animals  are  known  to  be  circumscribed 
upon  the  surface  of  our  earth,  coincide  with  the  natural 
range  of  distinct  types  of  man."  Here,  at  the  outset  will 
be  noticed  an  immense  fallacy,  under  the  single  phrase 
"natural  range,"  which  vitiates  the  entire  proposition.  It 
either  involves  the  assumption  of  an  original  starting  up 
of  earth-born  nations,  each  in  its  own  "natural"  district,  a 
doctrine  about  which  the  learned  professor  declares  that  to 
the  end  he  "hesitates;"  or,  it  asserts  some  other  fixed 
relation  between  regions  and  races,  irreconcilably  in  con- 
flict with  the  plainest  facts.  If  it  be  meant  that  Europe, 
for  instance,  had  native  clans  anterior  to  the  immigration 
of  Teutons,  Celts,  etc.,  or  their  earliest  wandering  prede- 
cessors, and  that  our  Indian  tribes  sprang  up  in  their 
several  "natural  ranges,"  without  connection  with  other 
parentage,  then  what  is  it  but  the  most  obvious  petitio 
principii,  the  merest  taking  for  granted  the  very  thing 
sought  to  be  proved  through  the  laborious  processes  of 
massive  volumes,  without  at  last  dispelling  the  mists  of 
doubt  from  this  very  leading  mind?  But  if  this  be  not 
what  is  meant,  then  may  it  be  unanswerably  urged,  what 
original  and  fixed  relation  England  and  its  flora  and  fauna 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  79 

sustain  to  the  present  Anglo-Saxon  population,  or  to  any 
other  people  that  have  entered  the  island  from  abroad? 
And  what  is  the  "  natural  range"  of  the  spreading  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  ? 

But  not  to  dwell  upon  this  radical  unsoundness  of  the 
proposition  in  question,  let  its  alleged  supports  be  exam- 
ined. They  are  such  affirmations  as  these :  "Among  the 
animals  which  compose  the  fauna  of  a  country,  we  find 
types  belonging  exclusively  there,  and  not  occurring  else- 
where;" "the  grand  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom  are 
primordial,  independent  of  climate."  And  upon  these 
affirmations,  in  connection  with  the  general  proposition  of 
coincident  human  types  and  zoological  groups,  it  is  sweep- 
ingly  alleged,  "that  the  laws  which  regulate  the  diversity 
of  animals,  and  their  distribution  upon  earth,  apply  equally 
to  man,  within  the  same  limits,  and  in  the  same  degree" 

Now,  granting,  as  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  instances 
occur  of  very  restricted  existence  of  certain  classes,  alike 
in  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  and  that,  apart 
from  human  agency,  neither  plant  nor  animal  of  any  one 
kind  can  be  found  indiscriminately  scattered  through  every 
region  where  it  could  exist;  yet,  is  it  not  plain  that  the 
fact  bears  directly  against  the  assertion,  that  men  are  con- 
trolled within  the  same  limits,  and  in  the  same  degree,  as 
other  living  things,  by  the  laws  which  regulate  diversity  ? 
And  that  it  bears  also  very  strikingly  in  favor  of  an  ori- 
ginal creation  of  men  in  only  one  centre  ?  Why,  it  may 
be  confidently  urged,  should  it  be  supposed  that  unlimit- 
edly  migratory  man  was  "created  in  nations,"  the  world 


80  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

over,  when  the  unwielclly  walrus  is  confined  to  the  Arctic 
shores,  the  awkward  kangaroo,  under  whatever  varieties 
that  exist,  to  the  arid  wastes  of  Australia,  and  the  scarcely 
locomotive  sloth  to  a  limited  district  of  Southern  America  ? 
And  how  did  it  happen  that  not  a  horse,  cow,  sheep,  goat, 
hog,  dog,  or  cat,  of  all  the  numerous  varieties  of  these 
creatures  elsewhere  domesticated  by  man,  was  found  in 
1492,  existing  on  the  American  islands  and  continent, 
in  companionship  with  the  men  there  supposed  to  have 
once  waked  up  "in  nations"  out  of  dust,  or  metamor- 
phosed lizards,  or  something  of  that  sort?  Why,  if  the 
laws  which  regulate  diversity  apply  equally  in  the  same 
limits  and  degree  to  man  and  to  the  lower  creatures,  did 
not  the  "nations"  that  happened  to  rise  up  somehow  in 
America,  find,  on  rubbing  their  eyes  and  looking  about 
them,  some  of  these  very  useful,  voiceless  servants  at  hand, 
which  they  might  tame  and  turn  to  good  account  ?  The 
instinctive  sagacity  of  a  sound  mind  at  once  determines 
these  questions  against  the  diversity  theory.  An  inference 
from  analogy  is  immediately  suggested,  that  if  other  orders 
of  animals  were  originally  given  being  in  only  one  locality, 
so,  probably,  was  man.  That  if  the  lower  creatures,  so 
universally  adapted  to  his  use,  had  not  their  "natural 
range  "in  America,  in  the  sense  of  being  created  there, 
neither  had  he,  but  that  he  found  his  way  thither  by 
routes  which  admitted  not  of  their  transfer.  A  conclu- 
sion, which,  as  will  be  presently  seen,  is  remarkably  con- 
firmed by  Lieut.  Maury's  discoveries  respecting  air  and 
ocean  currents,  and  by  linguistic  and  other  facts  copiously 


THE   HUMAN    FAMILY.  81 

furnished   in   the  valuable   national  work   edited   by  Dr. 
Schoolcraft. 

The  statement  that  the  grand  divisions  of  the  animal 
kingdom  are  altogether  independent  of  climate,  cannot  be 
maintained  in  any  sense  subsidiary  to  the  notion  of  like 
"  primordial"  diversities  among  men.  It  is  no  doubt  true 
that  climate  alone  did  not  determine  the  original  positions 
assigned  different  classes  of  plants  and  animals,  and  yet  is 
it  equally  certain  that  every  organized  form  does  sustain  a 
very  marked  relation  to  climate.  "  The  migration  of  quad- 
rupeds from  one  part  of  the  globe  to  another,"  observes  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  (Elements  of  Geology,  vol.  iii.  p.  16,  etc.) 
"is  prevented  by  uncongenial  climates,  and  the  branches  of 
the  ocean  which  intersect  continents.  .  .  .  Where  the  conti- 
nents of  the  Old  and  New  World  approximate  toward  each 
other  on  the  North,  the  narrow  straits  which  separate 
them  are  frozen  over  in  winter,  and  the  distance  is  further 
lessened  by  intervening  islands.  Thus  a  passage  from  one 
continent  to  another  becomes  practicable  for  such  quadru- 
peds as  are  fitted  to  endure  the  intense  cold  of  the  Arctic 
circle ;  accordingly  the  whole  Arctic  region  has  become  one 
of  the  provinces  of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  contains  many 
species  common  to  both  th.e  great  continents.  But  the 
temperate  regions  of  America,  which  are  separated  by  a 
wide  extent  of  ocean  from  those  of  Europe  and  Asia,  con- 
tain each  a  distinct  nation  of  indigenous  quadrupeds." 
Yet  man  is  there,  under  only  "such  variation  of  form, 
color,  and  organization,"  remarks  the  same  widely-informed, 
unprejudiced,  and  coolly-judging  author,  "as  has  been  con- 


82  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

vincingly  proved  to  be  perfectly  consistent  with  the  gener- 
ally received  opinion  of  an  origin  from  a  single  pair." 
And,  continues  the  same  philosophic  investigator,  "were 
the  whole  of  mankind  now  cut  off  with  the  exception  of 
one  family,  inhabiting  the  Old  or  the  New  Continent,  or 
Australia,  or  even  some  coral  islet  of  the  Pacific,  we 
might  expect  their  descendants,  though  they  should  never 
become  more  enlightened  than  the  South  Sea  Islander,  or 
the  Esquimaux,  to  spread  in  the  course  of  ages  over  the 
whole  earth,  diffused  partly  by  the  tendency  of  popula- 
tion to  increase,  in  a  limited  district,  beyond  the  means 
of  subsistence,  and  partly  by  the  accidental  drifting  of 
canoes  by  tides  and  currents  to  distant  shores." 

With  this  unmistakable  announcement,  by  one  admitted 
to  have  no  superior  in  this  department  of  science,  might 
safely  be  left  the  refutation  already  given  of  the  notion, 
that  well-defined  distinctions  between  human  races  coin- 
cide with  corresponding  limits  of  definitely  circumscribed 
zoological  realms,  independently  of  climate,  and  only  ex- 
plicable on  the  theory  of  original  diversities. 

But  there  are  other  facts  of  so  striking  a  character,  in 
irreconcilable  conflict  with  that  notion,  that  it  is  scarcely 
allowable  to  pass  on  without  listening  a  moment  to  their 
decisive  utterance.  One  of  these  facts  is  the  established 
unity  of  the  whole  American  race,  notwithstanding  im- 
mense diversities  of  form,  color,  and  appearance,  from  the 
misshapen  and  miserable  occupants  of  Terra  del  Fuego, 
to  the  lordly  Iroquois,  whom  our  fathers  found  so  formid- 
able, and  the  half-torpid  Esquimaux  still  gorging  them- 


THE   HUMAN    FAMILY.  83 

selves  with  blubber  on  the  Arctic  coasts.  To  this  fact  the 
venerable  Mr.  Gallatin,  so  long  and  so  remarkable  an 
investigator  of  -the  Indian  dialects,  bears  the  following 
testimony,  in  perhaps  the  last  public  document  penned  by 
his  hand:  "The  several  languages  of  the  aborigines 
of  America,  as  far  as  they  have  been  examined,  seem  to 
leave  no  doubt  of  the  unity  of  that  race."  (See  Letter  in 
Dr.  Schoolcraft's  Work,  vol.  iii.  p.  9*1.)  To  the  same  fact, 
Dr.  Morton  also,  in  the  last  paper  ever  prepared  by  himself 
for  publication,  and  the  completion  of  which  was  even  pre- 
vented by  his  death,  thus  bears  witness :  "A  certain  same- 
ness of  organization  among  such  multitudinous  tribes 
seems  to  prove,  in  the  geographical  sense,  the  origin  of 
one  to  have  been  equally  the  origin  of  all."  (Paper  in 
Schoolcraft,  vol.  ii.  p.  316.  And  even  Agassiz  does  not 
deny  this  fact;  on  the  contrary,  he  assumes  the  American 
race,  in  its  totality,  as  one  of  the  eight  originally  "created 
nations,"  which  he  arbitrarily  adopts  for  his  purpose; 
though  other  authors  claim  a  different,  and  some  an  in- 
definite, number  of  such  "nations."  Now  with  this  great 
fact  of  human  oneness  throughout  so  vast  a  region,  there  is 
plainly  no  reconciling  the  learned  professor's  asserted  same- 
ness of  localities  for  groups  of  animal  species  and  types 
of  men.  Such  reconciliation  is  attempted  indeed  by 
sweeping  into  one  group  the  endlessly  diversified,  and  in 
some  instances  irreconcilably  dissociated  classes  of  animals 
between  Labrador  and  Cape  Horn.  But  such  classification 
is  too  manifestly  a  forcing  of  facts  to  suit  a  theory  to  be 
other  than  worthless. 


84  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

When  the  formidable  grisly  bear  of  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains, and  the  bison  multitudes  of  the  Northwestern  prairies, 
with  their  associated  far  and  feather  clad  companions,  are 
discovered  dwelling  beneath  the  same  skies  as  the  ferocious 
jaguar  of  Brazil,  the  strange  ant-eater  and  sloth,  and  the 
gorgeous  feathered  tribes  of  inter-tropical  America,  then, 
and  not  till  then,  can  anything  like  a  unity  of  animal 
species  be  affirmed  as  coinciding  with  that  of  the  human 
variety  pervading  the  continent. 

Another  fact  of  the  same  character,  and  conducting  to 
the  same  conclusion,  is  the  unity  also  established  of  the 
human  families,  dwelling  in  the  broad  area  between  the 
delta  of  the  Ganges,  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic.  Comparative  philology,  of  which  in 
another  connection  we  shall  adduce  the  testimony,  has 
placed  this  fact  beyond  all  question.  In  the  language  of 
one  of  Biinsen's  coadjutors,  in  his  great  work,  Christianity 
and  Mankind,  vol.  iii.  p.  180,  "there  was  a  time  when 
the  ancestors  of  the  Celts,  the  Germans,  the  Sclavonians, 
the  Greeks  and  Italians,  the  Persians  and  Hindoos,  were 
living  together  beneath  the  same  roof."  Yet  who  has  ever 
heard  of  animal  forms  in  the  wilds  of  Scotland  and  Scan- 
dinavia analogous  to  the  tigers  and  their  associates  amid 
the  jungles  of  Bengal? 

Still  another  circumstance,  controverting  in  just  the 
opposite  way  the  notion  of  coterminous  human  types  and 
animal  groups,  is  the  very  extensive  coexistence  of  Papuan 
and  other  varieties  of  negroes,  and  nations  of  totally  dif- 
ferent characteristics,  in  the  great  Malayan  range  of  Poly- 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  85 

nesian  Oceanica.  "  Black,  woolly-haired  people,  resembling 
in  their  features  and  color  the  negroes  of  New  Guinea,  are 
widely  spread  in  the  Indian  Archipelago.  They  inhabit 
the  interior  of  many  islands,  from  New  Guinea,  New 
Britain,  and  New  Ireland,  northward  to  the  Philippines, 
and  eastward  to  the  Hebrides,"  (Prichard's  Nat.  Hist,  of 
Man,  p  346 ;)  while  the  Malayans  occupying  other  por- 
tions of  the  same  islands,  and  in  Tahiti  and  other  districts 
of  the  Polynesian  Paradise,  improved  into  some  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  physical  man,  reaching  round  in  an 
immense  circuit,  are  found  furnishing  residents  to  the 
African  islands  of  Madagascar,  as  proved  by  Humboldt. 
{Ibid.,  341.)  Any  one  who  will  turn  to  the  portrait  of  a 
Nigrito  boy,  given  by  Commander  Wilkes,  of  the  United 
States  Exploring  Expedition,  vol.  v.  p.  306,  as  a  specimen 
of  that  race  in  the  Philippines,  will  at  once  recognize  a 
head  and  face  the  counterpart  to  which  may  be  seen  by 
scores  on  any  Southern  plantation.  Yet  the  true  Poly- 
nesian tribes  of  the  same  islands,  especially  the  Irogotes 
and  Pampagnons,  are  represented  by  Wilkes  as  a  fine 
race. 

Now;  either  these  two  varieties  of  men  must  be  admitted 
to  be  not  both  autochthons  of  that  sweep  of  islands,  or  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  human  varieties  are  not  coterm- 
inous with  certain  localities  and  zoological  realms.  It 
matters  little  which  horn  of  the  dilemma  be  chosen  by  the 
advocates  of  the  diversity  theory.  Either  way  the  fact 
bears  directly  against  their  hypothesis,  that  all  the  more 
marked  varieties  of  men  belong  strictly  to  regions  where, 

8 


86  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

in  common  with  coincident  groups  of  plants  and  animals, 
they  were  originally  developed. 

All  these  facts,  and  they  might  be  almost  indefinitely 
extended,  prove,  beyond  question,  that  the  accomplished 
Agassiz  has  permitted  himself  to  yield  to  the  temptation, 
offered,  by  a  certain  facility  of  escape  from  difficulty,  in 
this  adjustment,  to  arrange  an  arbitrary  classification  of 
human  varieties,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  a  fan- 
ciful grouping  of  animals  into  realms,  so  as  to  force  them 
into  a  semblance  of  agreement,  on  his  artificial  plan,  which 
is  actually  denied  in  the  distributions  of  nature.  No 
wonder,  we  repeat,  he  "hesitates"  about  the  doctrine  of 
original  diversity,  aware,  as  he  cannot  but  be,  of  such 
radical  unsoundness  in  the  theory  of  distribution  which  he 
has  been  persuaded  to  throw  off  from  a  most  ingenious  and 
versatile  mind.  We  have  deemed  it  proper,  on  account  of 
the  influence  of  his  name  as  a  naturalist  unsurpassed  in 
his  peculiar  department,  thus  to  indicate  the  total  incon- 
clusiveness  of  his  speculations  concerning  the  origin,  dis- 
tribution, and  varieties  of  mankind.  We  close  the  refuta- 
tion of  those  speculations  with  another  extract  from  the 
well-nigh  decisive  judgment  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell. 

"It  is  unnecessary,"  he  says,  (Elements  of  Geology, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  IT,  121,)  "to  accumulate  illustrations  in  order 
to  prove  that  the  stations  of  different  plants  and  animals 
depend  on  a  great  complication  of  circumstances,  on  an 
immense  variety  of  relations  in  the  state  of  the  animate 
and  inanimate  worlds.  Every  plant  requires  a  certain 
climate,  soil,  and  other  conditions,  and  often  the  aid  of 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  87 

many  animals,  to  maintain  its  ground.  Many  animals  feed 
on  certain  plants,  being  often  restricted  to  a  small  number, 
and  sometimes  to  one  only;  other  members  of  the  animal 
kingdom  feed  on  plant-eating  species,  and  thus  become 
dependent  upon  the  conditions  not  only  of  their  prey,  but 
of  the  plants  consumed  by  them.  .  .  .  The  possibility  of  the 
existence  of  a  certain  species  in  a  certain  place,  or  of  its 
thriving  more  or  less  therein,  is  determined  not  merely  by 
temperature,  humidity,  elevation,  and  other  circumstances 
of  the  like  kind,  but  also  by  the  existence  or  non-exist- 
ence, scarcity  or  abundance,  of  a  particular  assemblage  of 
other  plants  and  animals  in  the  same  region.  .  .  .  Whereas 
the  power  of  existing  and  multiplying  in  every  latitude, 
and  in  every  variety  of  situation  and  climate,  which  has 
enabled  the  great  human  family  to  extend  itself  over  the 
habitable  globe,  is  partly  the  result  of  the  physical  con- 
stitution, and  partly  of  the  mental  prerogative  of  man.  If 
he  did  not  possess  the  most  enduring  and  flexible  corporeal 
frame,  his  arts  would  not  enable  him  to  be  the  inhabitant 
of  all  climates,  and  to  brave  the  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold,  and  the  other  destructive  influences  of  local  situation. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  this  flexibility  of  bodily  frame,  we 
find  no  signs  of  indefinite  departure  from  a  common 
standard.  And  the  intermarriages  of  individuals  of  the 
most  remote  varieties  are  not  less  fruitful  than  between 
those  of  the  same  tribe." 

The  distinct  judgment  expressed  in  the  latter  portion  of 
this  quotation,  concerning  the  specific  oneness  of  the  human 
family — under  all  the  endlessly  varying  gradations  of  form, 


88  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

occasioned,  within  certain  limits,  by  the  operation  of  climate 
and  other  influences,  on  an  original  extraordinary  flexibility 
of  constitution  —  furnishes  a  suitable  point  of  transition 
from  one  of  the  main  propositions  of  the  diversity  ad- 
vocates, to  its  other  leading  affirmation  —  concerning  a 
pristine,  well-defined,  non-transitional,  unchangeable  dis- 
tinction of  species,  in  the  diverse  portions  of  our  world's 
human  population.  The  several  statements  embodying 
this  affirmation  may  be  expressed  in  the  following  proposi- 
tion, derived  from  Dr.  Nott's  Synopsis,  Types  of  Mankind, 
p.  465:— 

11  There  exists  a  genus  Homo,  embracing  many  primor- 
dial types  or  species,  which  have  remained  permanent, 
and  untransitional,  through  all  recorded  time,  and  despite 
the  most  opposite  moral  and  physical  influences" 

The  stress  of  this  proposition  lies  obviously  in  the 
asserted  definiteness  and  permanence  of  the  types  spoken 
of.  If  there  be,  as  alleged,  clearly-marked  boundaries  be- 
tween unlike  races,  allowing  of  no  intermediate  gradations, 
which  seem  by  insensible  blendings  to  affiliate  them,  accord- 
ing to  the  diversified  conditions  of  climate,  habit,  etc.;  and 
if  adequate  proof  be  furnished,  that  such  distinctions  have 
existed  since  man  appeared  upon  the  earth,  then  it  must 
be  conceded  that  the  proposition  is  not  only  plausible,  but 
probably  sustained.  But  if  there  be  any  failure  of  evidence 
as  to  either  of  these  subordinate  elements,  the  proposition 
at  once,  be  it  noted,  loses  its  claimed  position  as  a  truth 
scientifically  established.  For  if  there  be  any  insensible 
blending  of  grades  between  the  extreme  varieties,  so  that 


THE    HUMAN    FAMILY.  89 

no  line  of  division  can  be  truly  drawn  between  one  and 
another,  then  the  affirmed  non-transitional  distinctness  of 
types  is  immediately  shown  to  be  a  merely  arbitrary  as- 
sumption, not  authorized  by  the  facts  of  nature.  Or, 
supposing  such  separate,  ungradational,  clearly-defined 
diversities  of  race  to  be  made  out,  and  that  they  have 
existed  for  a  very  long  time;  still,  if  the  whole  term  of 
human  existence  be  not  clearly  embraced  in  the  evidence 
—if  there  occur  any  gap  in  the  testimonies  of  time — 
if  any  ancient  period  be  left  to  doubtful  conjecture — then 
again  is  the  proposition  vitiated.  Since  no  one  can  in  that 
case  allege  the  impossibility,  or  even  improbability,  of  the 
introduction  of  strongly-marked  varieties  into  one  family, 
by  some  such  secondary  divine  appointment  as  that  of 
Genesis,  ix.  25-2 T,  to  which  the  prevalent  impression  of  a 
very  remarkable  tri- partition  of  human  destiny  is  com- 
monly, and  with  reason,  attributed. 

Now,  the  question  is,  can  either  of  these  two  branches 
of  the  main  proposition  be  fairly  made  out  ?  We  are  well 
assured,  after  very  careful  examination,  that  they  cannot — 
that  there  exists  indeed  an  absolute  impossibility  in  the 
way  of  such  proof,  as  to  each  of  the  points  involved — 
that  it  is  altogether,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  im- 
practicable, with  any  certainty  to  trace  cranial  relics,  or 
monumental  delineations,  or  historical  records,  those  of 
revelation  being  excluded,  up  within  any  definite  approxima- 
tion of  man's  primeval  age — and  consequently  impossible 
to  trace  diversities  of  race  up  to  the  beginning ;  that  it  is 
equally  impracticable  to  point  out  races  of  men  the  most 


90  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

extreme  in  diversity,  which  have  not,  ranging  between 
them,  indefinite  varieties  so  closely  approximating  either 
limit,  as  to  constitute  an  insensibly  blending  gradational 
series,  with  no  break  in  the  progression,  no  interval  admit- 
ting of  a  natural  line  of  deinaikation;  and  that  conse- 
quently it  is  doubly  impossible  scientifically  to  establish 
the  proposition,  in  support  of  which  crania  are  piled  on 
crania,  and  diagram  on  diagram,  in  the  multiplied  pages 
of  massive  volumes. 

Let  us,  however,  examine  the  argument  under  each 
head,  and  see  if  the  general  allegation  be  indeed  sustained 
by  facts. 

We  take  up  the  point  of  absolute,  definitely  bounded 
types  without  interblending  varieties.  Is  it  established? 
Is  it  true?  Does  nature  so  speak? 

Let  the  types,  as  they  are  called,  be  looked  at  separately, 
and  then  collectively.  And  here  it  occurs  to  remark  upon 
this  delusive  term  in  a  professedly  scientific  discussion. 
Types  are  marks,  figures,  modes ;  species,  in  the  scientific 
sense,  are  classes  intrinsically  distinct.  And  although, 
like  almost  all  other  general  terms,  this  may  be,  and  has 
been  questioned  as  to  its  exact  scope — whether  it  embraces 
sameness  of  parentage  as  well  as  correspondence  of  gov- 
erning qualities — yet  is  its  meaning  sufficiently  agreed 
upon  to  make  it  the  best  general  designation,  in  such  in- 
quiries. Whereas,  the  introduction  of  another  term,  and 
one  apparently  indicating  a  fallacious  mode  of  determining 
specific  diversity,  viz.,  by  a  few  superficial  marks,  is  calcu- 
lated to  embarrass  instead  of  elucidating  the  question,  and 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  91 

seems,  indeed,  to  involve  a  sort  of  tacit  admission  that  at 
last  the  differences  contended  for  as  existing  among  men, 
are  not  exactly  of  the  same  kind  as  these  scientifically  ad- 
mitted in  determining  species  among  lower  creatures.  Not, 
however,  to  dwell  on  this.  We  summon  the  American 
type.  Agassiz  assumes  this  to  be  a  unit.  Mr.  Gallatin 
declares,  "no  doubt  is  left  of  its  being  one  race."  Dr. 
Morton  affirms  "the  origin  of  one  to  have  been  equally  the 
origin  of  all."  Yet  what  are  the  facts  as  to  some  of  the 
most  striking  peculiarities  which  characterize  varieties  of 
men?  The  very  marked  differences  between  the  warlike 
hunting  tribes,  that  disputed  inch  by  inch  with  our  fathers 
the  possession  of  this  great  country,  and  the  more  com- 
pactly settled,  and  therefore  more  artificially  cultivated  but 
less  vigorous  people  so  cruelly  oppressed  and  butchered  by 
Cortez  and  Pizarro,  who  has  not  had  occasion  to  notice  ? 
Now,  Dr.  Morton  testifies  of  the  old  Peruvians,  "that  they 
possessed  a  brain  no  larger  than  that  of  the  Hottentot 
and  New  Hollander,  and  far  below  that  of  the  barbarous 
hordes  of  their  own  race :  155  crania  gave  but  75  cubic 
inches  for  the  average  bulk  of  the  brain.  ...  Of  22  Mex- 
ican crania  the  mean  capacity  was  79  cubic  inches,  4  above 
that  of  the  Peruvians.  .  .  .  While  of  161  crania  belonging 
to  the  nomadic  tribes  of  North  America,  the  average  was 
84  cubic  inches,  5  above  that  of  the  Aztecs  and  9  beyond 
that  of  the  Peruvians."  (Dr.  Schoolcraft's  Work,  vol.  ii. 
p.  329.) 

Here,  then,  is  an  item  of  structure  on  which  all  advocates 
of  specific  diversity  lay  great  stress,  as  strongly  marking 


92  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

different  types.  Yet  the  highest  authorities  in  this  case 
testify  that  it  is  not  specific  or  primordial,  but  only  circum- 
stantial, and  incident  to  habits  of  life.  This  is  Dr. 
Morton's  account  of  the  matter.  (Schoolcraft,  vol.  ii.  p. 
239.)  "We  know  that  the  government  of  the  Incas  was 
of  the  kind  called  paternal,  and  their  subjects,  in  the  moral 
and  intellectual  sense,  were  children,  who  seem  neither  to 
have  thought  or  acted  except  at  the  dictation  of  a  master. 
Theirs  was  an  absolute  obedience  that  knew  no  limit. 
Like  the  Bengalese,  they  made  good  soldiers  in  their 
native  wars,  not  from  any  principle  of  valor,  but  from  the 
mere  sense  of  passive  obedience  to  their  superiors.  But 
the  condition  of  the  savage  is  wholly  different.  His  life  is 
a  sleepless  vigilance,  a  perpetual  stratagem ;  and  his  brain, 
always  in  a  state  of  activity,  should  be  larger  than  that  of 
the  docile  Peruvian,  even  though  it  ceased  to  grow  after 
adult  age." 

Again,  as  to  shape  of  head,  it  is  of  a  certain  general 
standard,  only  "in  greater  or  less  degree,"  says  the  same 
eminent  comparative  physiologist.  And  it  has  exceptions ; 
"a  more  elongated  form  being  seen  among  the  Missouri 
tribes,  and  among  the  Iroquois  and  Cherokees." 

In  stature  there  is  a  like  deviation,  e.g.:  "Some  of  the 
tribes  of  Patagonia  embrace  a  remarkable  number  of 
tall  men,  and  perhaps  their  average  stature  exceeds  that  of 
any  other  of  the  affiliated  natives;"  while  "whole  tribes 
which  possess  a  comparativelv  low  stature  exist  in  South 
America." 

In  co lor  there  are  still  wider  differences.     "The  Char- 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  93 

roas,  (ibid.)  on  the  southern  shores  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
are  almost  black,  as  are  some  of  the  California  tribes; 
while  the  Batocudys  of  Brazil  and  the  Borroas  of  Chili 
are  examples  of  a  comparatively  fair  tint.  And  we  are 
told  that,  among  the  islanders  of  St.  Catharine's,  on  the 
coast  of  California,  young  persons  have  a  mixture  of  white 
and  red  in  their  complexions,  presenting  a  singular  contrast 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  mainland.  .  .  .  The  fair- 
ness of  the  Mandans  of  the  Upper  Missouri  is  proverbial." 
"There  are  many  of  these  people,"  says  Catlin,  (Customs 
of  North  American  Indians,  vol.  i.  p.  94,)  "whose  com- 
plexions appear  as  light  as  half-breeds;  and  among  women 
especially  there  are  many  whose  skins  are  almost  white, 
with  the  most  pleasing  symmetry  and  perfection  of  fea- 
tures, with  hazel,  with  gray,  and  with  blue  eyes." 

With  regard  to  hair,  Mr.  Catlin  also  states,  concerning 
that  of  the  tribe  just  mentioned,  that  it  is  generally  "as 
fine  and  as  soft  as  silk,"  while  the  usual  characteristic 
of  this  appendage  to  the  Indian  ensemble,  is  its  long, 
black,  and  coarse  texture.  And  even  conceding  to  the 
microscopic  observations  of  Mr.  Browne  of  Philadelphia 
an  authority  altogether  discredited  by  later  and  fuller 
researches,  this  variation  in  the  head-covering  of  the  red 
men  may  still  be  noticed.  A  circular  section  is  exhibited 
by  Mr.  Browne  as  generally  belonging  to  the  Indian  hair, 
while  the  slightly  oval  marks  that  of  the  European,  and 
the  flattened  ellipse  that  of  the  negro ;  yet  specimens  are 
given  by  him  of  the  oval  section  from  the  Indian  head, 
and  of  a  measurement  not  exceeding  that  exhibited  in  the 


94  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

best  Caucasian  blood,  e.g.  the  two  diameters  of  the  oval 
section  of  a  hair  from  the  head  of  a  Choctaw  Indian, 
are  given  as  respectively  ^J-j  and  3-^  of  an  inch;  and  the 
corresponding  measurement  of  a  hair  from  the  noble  head 
of  Washington  ^}2  and  ^  jg.  (Schoolcraft,  vol.  iii.  p.  383.) 
Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  soft  and  silken  locks  of  the 
Mandans,  described  by  Catlin,  correspond,  in  minute  struc- 
ture, with  the  auburn  tresses  of  our  own  bright  beauties. 

Here,  then,  is  a  single  race  of  men  presenting  in  itself  a 
very  wide  range  of  variation  in  almost  every  one  of  the 
great  features  regarded  as  marking  one  type  from  another, 
indefinitely  approximating,  on  the  one  hand,  the  structure 
and  appearance  of  well-developed  Europeans,  and  on  the 
other,  those  of  the  more  degraded,  unintellectual,  and 
swarthy  portions  of  the  human  family.  The  first  support 
of  the  diversity  proposition  under  review  seems  fairly  to 
break  down  under  the  pressure  of  this  one  fact. 

But  the  great  Indo-European  family  exhibits  a  precisely 
similar  scene  of  almost  endless  variation.  Who  is  not 
familiar  with  the  characteristic  features  of  the  sons  of 
Erin,  in  contrast  with  those  of  the  countrymen  of  Kosci- 
usko,  and  those  of  the  kinsmen  of  Palafox  ?  London  and 
Paris,  Naples  and  Athens,  St.  Petersburg  and  Madrid, 
present  each  its  own  standard  of  a  great  human  variety; 
and  yet  how  widely  different  are  they  all  from  the  ancient 
people  of  Sanscrit  speech  in  that  vast  peninsula  of  South- 
ern Asia,  where 

"The  rich  soil, 

Washed  by  a  thousand  rivers,  from  all  sides 
Pours  on  the  nations  wealth  without  control !" 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  95 


"The  inhabitants  are  swart,  and  in  their  locks 
Betray  the  tint  of  the  dark  hyacinth." 

So,  again,  with  the  prodigious  multitudes  of  ever-vary- 
ing human  creatures  spread  over  the  immense  area  from 
Finland  and  Hungary,  through  the  wide  tract  of  Northern 
and  Central  Asia.  These,  all  that  can  be  included  under 
the  general  appellations  of  Finns,  Hungarians,  Tartars, 
Turks,  Samoieds,  Mongolians,  and  Tungusians,  have  been 
shown,  by  the  untiring  researches  of  Ilask,  Schott,  and 
Castren,  into  their  speech,  to  constitute  one  great  family 
of  men.  "After  studying,"  says  Castren,  "for  a  long 
number  of  years,  Finnic,  Samoiedic,  Turkic,  Mongolic, 
and  Tungusic  dialects,  it  seems,  as  far  as  I  can  see  from 
my  own  researches,  that  there  exists  between  them  both  a 
formal  and  a  material  congruence,  .  .  .  and  that  they  be- 
long to  one  class  or  race."  (Biinsen,  vol.  iii.  p.  278.) 
Yet,  who  that  looks  upon  the  specimens  of  these  various 
tribes,  as  rudely  given  in  our  common  illustrated  modern 
geographies,  but  must  be  struck  with  the  interminable 
gradations  with  which  they  blend  into  each  other,  between 
extreme  limits,  which  themselves  blend,  on  the  one  side, 
into  the  highest  European,  and,  on  the  other,  into  the 
lowest  form  of  broad-cheeked,  narrow-headed,  low-statured, 
fish-eating  barbarians  ! 

Passing  over  the  great  Malayo-Polynesian  range,  already 
alluded  to,  of  blended  varieties,  between  limits  approxima- 
ting the  Caucasian  in  Tahiti  and  elsewhere,  and  the  dark, 
crisp-haired  Hawaiians  and  others  verging  negroward ; 


96  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

and  the  Shemitic  stock,  varying  between  the  traits  of  the 
fair  daughters  of  Judah  and  those  of  the  black  Bedouins 
of  Arabia ;  we  next  view  the  generally  tanned  and  often 
woolly-haired,  but  still  endlessly  varied  inhabitants  of 
Africa,  undistinguishably  blended  between  the  Berber 
and  Egyptian  of  one  extreme,  and  the  Guineans,  Hot- 
tentots, and  Caffres  of  the  other.  The  following  is  the 
strong  testimony  of  so  thoroughly  informed  a  witness 
as  Professor  Lepsius:  "You  speak,"  he  says  to  the 
authors  of  Types  of  Mankind,  p.  233,  "of  a  gradation 
in  the  people  of  the  continent  of  Africa,  from  the  Cape 
to  the  North.  It  is  a  very  curious  fact  that  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Hottentots  and  Bushmen  .  .  .  bear  some 
characteristic  traits,  which  are  found  in  the  tongues  of 
Northeastern  Africa.  .  .  .  The  whole  African  continent 
had,  in  my  view,  within  a  certain  time  a  parent  popula- 
tion, and  its  languages  were  consequently  analogous.  I 
understand  what  you  designate  a  negroid  type  in  the 
Egyptian  figures,  and  I  have  nothing  against  that  observa- 
tion. But  the  fact  does  not  interfere  with  their  principal 
character  being  Asiatic."  So  also  Mr.  Birch,  of  the  British 
Museum,  (ibid.:)  "You  are  quite  right  as  to  the  interme- 
diate relation  of  Egypt  to  the  Asiatic  and  Nigritian  races." 
In  connection  with  the  above  expression  of  Lepsius,  we 
quote  from  him  a  still  more  striking  fact,  (Letters  from 
Egypt,  xxvi.)  "I  have  prepared  the  grammar  and  vocab- 
ulary of  the  language  of  the  Bischaribas,  inhabiting  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  Soudan,  .  .  .  and  both  with  refer- 
ence to  its  grammatical  construction,  and  its  position  in  the 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  91 

development  of  languages,  it  proves  itself  to  be  a  very  re- 
markable member  of  the  Caucasian  stock." 

"Moreover,"  says  Biinsen,  (vol.  iii.,  p.  185,;  the  roots 
of  the  Egyptian  language  are,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
monosyllabic,  and  on  the  whole  identical  with  the  corre- 
sponding roots  in  Sanscrit  and  Hebrew." 

Here,  therefore,  entering  Africa  by  the  valley  of  the 
Nile,  we  find  that  early  civilized  and  intelligent,  though 
strangely  idolatrous  people,  so  much  dealt  with  by  the 
Scriptures  and  the  old  classic  writers,  blending,  by  lan- 
guage and  many  physical  and  intellectual  characteristics, 
with  the  Japhetic  and  Shemitic  stocks.  Passing  southward, 
the  same  race  is  tracked,  by  the  sure  guidance  of  affiliated 
tongues,  through  Soudan  and  Abyssinia.  The  predomi- 
nant color  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  is  represented,  as  is 
well  known,  on  their  monumental  tablets,  etc.,  as  of  a 
peculiar  red.  And  all  the  Nubians  of  the  Nile,  or  Ber- 
berines,  are,  for  the  most  part,  (Prichard's  Nat.  Hist.  Man, 
p.  285,)  "of  a  red-brown  complexion,  sometimes  approach- 
ing black,  but  still  different  from  the  ebony  hue  of  the 
negroes  proper.  Their  hair  often  frizzled  and  thick,  yet 
not  precisely  similar  to  that  of  the  negroes  of  Guinea." 
Of  the  Abyssinians,  Baron  Larrey  says,  (ibid.,  287,)  "that 
they  belong  to  the  same  general  class  with  the  Berberines 
and  Egyptians:  countenances  full,  without  being  puffed; 
eyes  beautiful,  clear,  almond-shaped,  languishing;  cheek- 
bones projecting;  noses  nearly  straight,  rounded  at  the 
ends ;  nostrils  dilated ;  mouth  of  moderate  size ;  lips  thick ; 

9 


93  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

teeth  white,  regular,  and  scarcely  projecting;  beard  and 
hair  black  and  crisp ;  and  complexion  the  color  of  cop- 
per." 

"  Connected  with  the  Abyssinians  are  the  Gallas,  a  race 
extensively  spread  in  eastern  inter-tropical  Africa,  and  one 
of  those  holding  an  intermediate  place  between  the  Ara- 
bian on  the  one  side  and  the  negro  on  the  other." 

"Their  countenance,"  says  Dr.  Ruppell,  "is  rounder 
than  that  of  other  Abyssinian  nations :  noses  straight,  but 
short;  lips  thick,  but  not  yet  like  those  of  the  negroes; 
hair  thick,  and  strongly  frizzled,  and  almost  woolly."  (Ibid., 
pp.  285-87.) 

From  the  lower  Xile,  tracing  westward  the  Mediterranean 
border  of  Africa  to  the  Straits,  we  note  various  Berber 
tribes,  spread  over  the  region  of  ancient  Lybia.  Here  the 
Tyrian  colonists  of  old  found  both  fixed  and  desert-roving 
tribes— 

"Hinc  Getulse  urbes,  genus  insuperabile  bello, 

Et  Numidse  infreni  cingtmt,  et  inhospita  Syrtis ; 

Hinc  deserta  siti  regio,  lateque  furentes 

Barcsei."  .... 

And  here  African  chiefs — 

....  "larbas, 

Ductoresque  alii,  quos  Africa  terra  triumphis 
Dives  alit " 

deemed  themselves  fit  suitors  for  fair  Dido's  hand. 

These  Berbers  are  described  as  "in  general  of  a  swar- 
thy color,  with  dark  hair;  but  those  who  inhabit  the  moun- 
tains of  Auress,  or  Mons  Aurarius,  though  they  speak  the 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  99 

same  language,  are  of  a  fair  and  ruddy  complexion,  and 
their  hair  is  of  a  deep  yellow."  (Ibid.,  p.  265.)  The 
Tuarik  Berbers,  consisting  of  many  different  tribes  spread 
through  all  the  habitable  part  of  the  great  plain  of  Sahara, 
are  especially  remarkable,  since  they  are  found  to  "differ 
from  each  other  most  strikingly  in  physical  traits,  accord- 
ing to  the  climates  where  they  dwell :  being  in  some  parts 
white,  in  others  black,  but  without  the  features  of  negroes." 
(Ibid.) 

Southward,  to  the  mountain  chain  which  ranges  nearly 
parallel  to  the  equator  and  at  a  distance  of  some  10° 
therefrom  nearly  bisecting  the  continent,  including  all  that 
can  be  occupied  of  the  vast  sandy  sea,  is  an  immense  ex- 
panse over  which  are  spread  a  still  greater  variety.  Some 
of  the  people  of  the  interior  are  described  as  "very  hand- 
some;" the  nations  of  Haiissa,  for  example,  whom  Mr. 
Jackson  declares  to  "possess  a  peculiarly  open  and  noble 
countenance,  with  prominent  noses,  and  expressive  eyes." 
(Ibid.,  p.  294.)  While  others,  for  instance  the  Barnawi, 
are  reputed  to  be  more  like  the  ideal  negro.  And  as  to 
the  intellectual  capacities  of  these  tribes,  the  description 
which  the  celebrated  Mungo  Park  gives  of  Lego,  the  capi- 
tal of  Bambarra,  may  serve  as  an  illustration.  "  The  view 
of  this  extensive  city,  numbering  some  30,000  inhabitants, 
with  its  flat-roofed,  two-story  houses ;  its  mosques  seen  in 
every  quarter ;  the  ferries  conveying  men  and  horses  over 
the  Niger;  the  numerous  canoes  upon  the  river;  the 
crowded  population;  and  the  cultivated  state  of  the  sur- 
rounding country,  formed  altogether  a  prospect  of  civiliza- 


100  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

tion  and  magnificence  which  I  little  expected  to  find  in  the 
bosom  of  Africa."  {Ibid.) 

Toward  the  Atlantic  extremity  of  the  great  equatorial 
mountain  chain  are  found  still  other  varieties  of  men.  On 
the  northward  slope  range  the  Mandingoes,  one  of  the 
most  powerful,  numerous,  and  intelligent  of  the  African 
races.  Golberry  affirms  of  them  that  "they  resemble  the 
blacks  of  India  more  than  those  of  Africa."  (Ibid.) 
Though  Park  states  that  they  are  not  so  handsome  as  the 
Joloffs,  who  are  the  most  beautiful  and  at  the  same  time 
the  blackest  people  in  Africa,  and  with  hair  of  the  kind 
termed  completely  Foolly.  The  color  of  the  Mandingoes 
is  a  yellowish  black.  Some  of  them,  according  to  Major 
Laing,  resemble  the  ancient  Romans  in  many  of  their  cus- 
toms. 

On  the  western  declivity  of  the  Hong  chain  occur  in 
power  the  Fulahs,  a  people  identical  with  the  conquering 
Felatahs  in  Central  Africa.  The  intelligent  French  trav- 
eler, M.  Golberry,  describes  them  as  "fine  men,  robust, 
and  courageous ;  possessing  a  strong  mind ;  cautious  and 
prudent;  understanding  commerce,  and  traveling  in  the 
capacity  of  merchants  even  to  the  extremity  of  the  Gulf 
of  Guinea."  "Their  women,"  he  says,  "are  handsome 
and  sprightly.  The  color  of  their  skin  is  a  kind  of  red- 
dish black.  Their  countenances  are  regular,  and  their 
hair  is  longer  than,  and  not  so  woolly  as,  that  of  the  com- 
mon negroes.  Their  language  also  is  more  elegant  and 
sonorous  than  are  those  of  the  nations -by  whom  they  are 
surrounded."  (Ibid.)  From  their  appearance,  and  other 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  101 

circumstances  connected  with  the  Felatahs  and  Fulahs,  M. 
d'Eichthal,  in  an  elaborate  memoir,  maintains  that  they  are 
an  offset  from  the  Polynesian  race. 

On  the  southern  slope  of  the  great  range  of  mountains 
which  terminates  in  the  Sierra,  and  reaching  round 
through  a  vast  circuit  of  maritime  country,  to  the  inner 
angle  of  the  Bight  of  Benin,  are  found  the  people  present- 
ing the  negro  traits  in  full  development.  Upon  these  it  is 
needless  to  dwell,  familiar  as  they  are  to  almost  every  resi- 
dent in  the  United  States. 

The  interior  of  Africa  south  of  the  equator  has  of 
course  been  less  satisfactorily  explored  than  its  northern 
expanse ;  still,  reliable  researches  have  also  been  here  made, 
and  especially  have  the  recent  discoveries  of  Dr.  Living- 
stone thrown  important  light  upon  the  geographical,  eth- 
nological, and  kindred  questions  connected  with  this  part 
of  the  continent. 

Professor  Ritter  had,  some  time  since,  after  the  fullest 
investigation  then  practicable,  represented  the  great  pla- 
teau of  Southern  Africa  as  rising  in  every  part  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  coast,  supported  on  each  side  by  a  moun- 
tainous border,  which  offers  an  immense  barrier  in  front 
of  the  surrounding  ocean.  "This  elevated  basin,  it  is 
believed,  like  all  other  regions  so  situated,  contains 
vast  lakes  and  immense  mountain  plains,  a  theatre  where 
mankind  must  have  formed  themselves  into  peculiar  races, 
during  immemorial  times,  as  they  received  the  impress 
which  physical  agents  were  fitted  to  produce.  In  a  coun- 
try so  analogous  in  its  conditions  to  the  high  regions  of 

9* 


102  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Eastern  Asia,  we  should  expect  to  find  some  points  of  re- 
semblance in  the  tribes  of  people  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
last-named  region.  Accordingly,  in  the  nations  of  South 
Africa  there  are  many  points,  both  in  their  physical  and 
moral  character,  which  bear  a  comparison  with  the  great 
nomadic  tribes  of  Mongolia  and  Daouria."  (Prichard.) 

These  conclusions,  though  in  part  modified  by  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone's discovery,  that  "the  interior  of  Southern  Africa 
is  a  vast,  fertile,  watery  plateau  of  less  elevation  than 
flanking  hilly  ranges,"  (see  Livingstone's  Trav.  and  Res. 
in  S.  Africa,  pp.  281  and  539,)  are  much  more  than  con- 
firmed by  his  observations  on  the  characteristics  of  the 
various  tribes  spread  over  this  region. 

We  can  only  glance  at  the  peculiarities  of  these  South- 
ern races.  The  Hotentots,  like  our  Indians,  have  deterio- 
rated and  dwindled  before  the  devastations  of  a  vitiated 
civilization.  They  were  a  pastoral  people,  active  and 
courageous,  though,  under  a  peculiar  patriarchal  govern- 
ment, mild  and  contented.  Now,  through  severe  treat- 
ment, they  have  become  the  most  degraded  of  men. 

Their  descendants,  the  miserable  Bushmen,  as  described 
by  the  missionary  Bonatz,  are  "of  small  stature,  dirty- 
yellow  color,  prominent  forehead,  much  depressed  nose, 
and  thick  projecting  lips.  Their  constitution  is  so  much 
injured  by  dissolute  habits,  and  constant  smoking  of  duhra, 
that  both  old  and  young  look  wrinkled  and  decrepit." 
Dr.  Knox  testifies,  from  abundant  personal  observation, 
that  the  face  of  the  Hottentot  resembles  that  of  the  Kal- 
muc,  except  in  the  greater  thickness  of  the  lips ;  and  he 


THE    HUMAN    FAMILY.  103 

sets  them  down  as  a  branch  of  the  Mongolian  race.  In 
some  important  points  their  crania  resemble  those  of  the 
Northern  Asiatics,  and  Esquimaux.  (Prichard.) 

"The  people,"  says  Livingstone,  p.  366,  "who  inhabit 
the  central  region  of  South  Africa  are  not  all  quite  black 
in  color.  Many  incline  to  that  of  bronze,  and  others  are 
as  light  in  hue  as  the  Bushmen,  who,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, afford  a  proof  that  heat  alone  does  not  cause  black- 
ness, but  that  heat  and  moisture  combined  do  very  mate- 
rially deepen  the  color.  Wherever  we  find  people  who 
have  continued  for  ages  in  a  hot,  humid  district,  they  are 
deep  black.  .  .  .  The  Batoka  who  live  in  an  elevated  region, 
are,  when  seen  in  company  with  the  Batoka  of  the  rivers, 
so  much  lighter  in  color  that  they  might  be  taken  for 
another  tribe." 

The  Caffres,  north  and  east  of  the  Hottentots,  are  thus 
described  by  Professor  Lichtenstein  :  "The  universal  char- 
acteristics of  all  the  tribes  of  this  great  nation  consist  in 
an  external  form  and  figure,  varying  exceedingly  from  the 
other  nations  of  Africa.  They  are  taller,  stronger,  and 
better  proportioned.  Their  color  is  brown;  their  hair 
black  and  woolly.  They  have  the  high  forehead  and 
prominent  nose  of  the  Europeans,  the  thick  lips  of  the 
negroes,  and  the  high  cheek-bones  of  the  Hottentots." 
(Prichard.)  This,  Dr.  Livingstone  not  only  confirms,  but 
extends.  Of  the  entire  central  southern  region,  he  says, 
p.  408 :  "All  the  inhabitants  have  a  certain  thickness  and 
prominence  of  lip,  but  many  are  met  with  in  every  village 
in  whom  thickness  and  projection  are  not  more  marked 


104  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   TIIE    BIBLE. 

than  in  Europeans.  All  are  dark,  but  the  color  is  shaded 
off  in  different  individuals  from  deep  black  to  light  yellow. 
As  we  go  westward,  we  observe  the  light  color  predom- 
inating over  the  dark,  and  then  again,  when  we  come 
within  the  influence  of  damp  from  the  sea  air,  we  find  the 
shade  deepen  into  the  general  blackness  of  the  coast  pop- 
ulation. The  shape  of  the  head,  with  its  woolly  crop, 
though  general,  is  not  universal.  The  tribes  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  continent,  as  the  Caffres,  have  heads  finely 
developed  and  strongly  European." 

Of  a  tribe  in  the  very  centre  of  the  southern  plateau, 
about  south  latitude  10°,  and  east  longitude  19°,  he  adds, 
p.  486:  "The  people  in  these  parts  seemed  more  slender 
in-  form,  and  their  color  a  lighter  olive,  than  any  we  had 
hitherto  met.  Several  were  seen  with  the  upward  inclina- 
tion of  the  outer  angle  of  the  eye.  The  mode  of  dressing 
the  great  masses  of  woolly  hair  which  lay  upon  their 
shoulders,  together  with  their  general  features,  reminded 
me  of  the  ancient  Egyptians." 

Ascending  northward  along  the  Eastern  coast,  are 
people  analogous  to  the  Caffres,  and  speaking  cognate 
tongues.  "The  farther  our  travelers  advanced  from  the 
coast,"  says  Captain  Owen,  "the  more  they  observed  the 
natives  to  improve  in  appearance.  Of  those  of  Moroora, 
some  are  perfect  models  of  the  human  form ;  their  hair  is 
not  woolly,  but  grows  long,  turns  in  slender  curls,  and  is 
neatly  plaited."  (Prichard.) 

In  his  "".Researches,"  Prichard  has  shown  that  there  are 
strong  grounds  for  concluding  that  all  the  nations  known 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  105 

to  inhabit  Africa,  south  of  the  equator,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Hottentots,  speak  idioms,  which,  if  not  dialects  of 
one  mother  tongue,  may  be  considered  as  belonging  to  one 
family  of  languages.  And  the  exception  thus  noticed  will 
be  at  once  associated  with  the  fact,  before  quoted  from 
Lepsius,  that  the  dialects  of  the  Hottentots  and  Bushmen 
are  of  the  same  family  with  those  of  Northeastern  Africa. 
Here  again  later  exploration  has  confirmed  and  extended 
such  well-grounded  conclusions.  "The  dialects  spoken  in 
the  extreme  south,"  says  Livingstone,  p.  361,  "whether 
Hottentot  or  Cafifre,  bear  a  close  affinity  to  those  of  the 
tribes  living  immediately  on  their  northern  borders;  one 
glides  into  the  other,  and  their  affinities  are  so  easily  de- 
tected that  they  are  at  once  recognized  to  be  cognate.  If 
the  dialects  of  extreme  points  are  compared,  as  that  of  the 
Caffres  and  those  of  the  tribes  near  the  equator,  it  is  more 
difficult  to  recognize  the  fact,  which  is  really  the  case,  that 
all  the  dialects  belong  to  but  two  families  of  languages." 

We  have  thus  made  a  rapid  circuit  of  the  vast  African 
continent;  glancing  at  its  multitudinous  tribes,  some  of 
whom  deviate  more  widely  from  the  fine  European  stand- 
ard than  perhaps  any  other  human  varieties,  the  negroes 
of  Australia  possibly  excepted,  who  are  allied  to  those 
of  New  Britain,  etc.,  and  originally  derived,  most  prob- 
ably, as  will  be  seen,  from  Africa.  And  in  the  whole  range 
we  discover  the  same  endless  variations,  and  gradational 
blendings  between  the  widest  extremes,  exhibited  by  all  the 
other  people  of  the  earth. 

In  color  they  vary  through  every  shade,  between  the 


106  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

appropriate  European  that  sometimes  appeared  in  Egypt, 
and  still  exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount  Atlas,  and 
the  polished  ebony  of  the  thoroughly  dyed  negro.  In 
physiognomy,  they  range  between  the  elegant  Grecian 
outline  and  the  exaggerated  monstrosity  of  prognathous 
development.  In  texture,  etc.  of  hair,  they  exhibit  every 
grade,  from  the  soft  Asiatic,  and  even  auburn  locks  of  some 
Egyptians,  and  of  the  Aurarian  Berbers,  through  the  long 
and  plaited  ringlets  of  the  Moroorian  Caffres,  the  short 
and  crisp  curls  of  the  Nubian  Berberines,  the  thick  and 
frizzled  half  wool-like  covering  of  the  diffused  Galla,  and 
the  still  more  woolly  head-growth  of  the  sagacious  Fulahs, 
and  of  most  of  the  southern  races,  to  the  thoroughly  de- 
veloped negro  tufts  of  the  Guinea  tribes. 

In  every  important  particular  that  marks  varieties  of 
men,  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  vary  with  such  indefinite 
blendings  of  one  grade  into  another,  between  the  Caucasian 
standard  and  the  lowest  negro  specimen,  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  draw  a  line  of  divison  at  any  point  of  the  scale, 
and  affirm  here  one  type  ends  and  another  begins. 

This,  then,  is  the  decision  of  America,  of  Europe,  of 
Asia,  of  Oceanica,  and  of  Africa.  There  are  no  absolute, 
definitely  bounded  types  of  men,  without  undistinguishably 
interblending  varieties ;  no  such  unconditionally  fixed  bound- 
aries, circumscribing  precisely  marked  families,  separating 
them  from  all  others,  and  allowing  of  no  transitional  in- 
stances, as  assumed  in  the  diversity  proposition ;  and  con- 
sequently the  first  postulate  of  that  proposition  neither  is, 
nor  can  be  sustained. 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  107 

We  pass  therefore  to  its  other  affirmation,  permanence 
of  type  through  all  time.  And  here  it  is  of  course  to  be 
noticed,  that  with  the  evidence  just  adduced  full  in  view, 
so  entirely  discrediting  the  assumption  of  definitely  bounded, 
unblending  varieties  of  men,  we  can  only  use  the  term  type 
in  this  connection  as  designating  an  ideal  model,  supposed 
to  be  more  or  less  approximated  by  individuals  through 
some  indefinite  range.  The  point  alleged,  however,  we 
wish  distinctly  and  fairly  to  examine.  It  is,  not  only  that 
there  have  been  negroes  in  the  world  from  the  beginning, 
as  well  as  Hindoos  and  Europeans,  Mongolians,  Samoied- 
ans,  and  North  American  Indians,  but  that  Greek,  Roman, 
and  Celt,  Scandinavian,  Saxon,  German,  and  Sclave,  etc., 
and  indeed  almost  every  traceable  people  on  the  globe,  are 
now,  without  change,  save  perhaps  a  little  increase,  just 
such  as  they  were  when  first  waking  up  to  conscious 
being. 

"Nothing  short  of  a  miracle,"  is  the  strong  and  bold 
assertion,  (Types  Mankind,  p.  89,)  "could  have  evolved  all 
the  multifarious  Caucasian  forms  out  of  one  primitive 
stock."  And  attempts  are  seriously  made  to  extort  from 
history  some  support  for  the  idea,  that  each  tribe  always 
had  been  what  it  subsequently  was.  So  extravagant  a 
doctrine,  however,  directly  in  the  teeth  of  the  most  com- 
monly known  historical  facts,  and  totally  disproved  by 
undeniable  linguistic  affiliations,  is  not  worth  considerate 
refutation.  It  is  immediately  set  aside  by  its  own  absurdity. 
Nor  is  this  all;  the  earnest  advocacy  of  a  notion  so 
obviously  untrue,  carries  with  it  something  more  than 


108  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

suspicions  for  the  whole  theory.  How  can  authors  who 
blunder  so  seriously  on  points  open  to  universal  apprehen- 
sion, be  relied  upon  as  "knowing  whereof  they  affirm,"  in 
matters  of  more  recondite  character? 

But  not  to  take  advantage  of  this  extravagance  in  detail, 
we  accept  the  question  in  its  more  prominent  features,  and 
candidly  meet  the  inquiry  concerning  human  forms  the 
most  widely  separated.  Has  it  been  made  out  document- 
ally,  monumentally,  craniologically,  or  in  any  other  way  ? 
can  it  be  made  out,  that  the  white  race  has  remained  un- 
changed, and  the  negro  race  unvarying,  through  all  time, 
"in  spite  of  all  the  climates  of  the  globe?" 

The  first  consideration  on  the  subject  that  at  once 
occurs  is,  if  it  be  so,  it  is  a  very  wide  departure  from  the 
general  laws  of  specific  existence.  The  following,  says 
Lyell,  may  be  admitted  as  laws  prevailing  in  the  economy 
of  animated  nature:  "First,  that  the  organization  of  in- 
dividuals is  capable  of  being  modified  to  a  limited  extent 
by  the  force  of  external  causes ;  secondly,  that  these  mod- 
ifications are,  to  a  certain  extent,  transmissible  to  their 
offspring;  thirdly,  that  there  are  fixed  limits,  beyond 
which  the  descendants  from  common  parents  can  never 
deviate  from  a  certain  type;  fourthly,  that  each  species 
springs  from  one  original  stock,  and  can  never  be  per- 
manently confounded,  by  intermixing  with  the  progeny  of 
another  stock."  (Elements  of  Geology,  vol.  ii.  p.  433.)  If, 
then,  it  can  be  shown  of  the  white  race,  or  of  the  black, 
that  no  modification  of  organization  has  ever  been  pro- 
duced by  extremes  of  climate,  food,  and  other  commonly 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  109 

operative  influences,  that  can  be  demonstrated  concerning 
them  which  can  be  exhibited  in  no  other  extensively  dis- 
tributed species  of  animals  on  our  planet. 

But  the  advocates  of  this  theory,  discerning  the  bearing 
of  analogy  against  their  scheme,  very  positively  repudiate 
it  as  a  legitimate  element  of  scientific  investigation,  not- 
withstanding the  implied  necessity  of  relying  on  analogy 
at  the  very  basis  of  every  inductive  method.  "  The  diver- 
sity of  races  must  be  accepted  by  science  as  a  fact,"  they 
say,  (Types,  p.  65,)  "independently  of  theology,  and  of  all 
analogies  or  reasons  drawn  from  the  animal  kingdom." 
This  is  said,  be  it  remarked,  as  a  sort  of  preliminary  to  a 
most  elaborate  discussion,  aiming  to  disprove  the  Bible, 
and  show  that  "men  were  created  in  nations,"  and  at  last 
so  utterly  failing  in  the  proof,  that  the  leading  scientific 
mind  engaged,  in  spite  of  fanciful  tendencies  and  strong 
partialities,  pleads  guilty  to  final  doubt  on  the  subject. 

But,  passing  by  analogy,  we  address  ourselves  to  the 
alleged  evidence  of  facts.  The  Jews  are  adduced  as  a 
specimen  of  permanence.  They  certainly  do  stand  mar- 
velously  among  the  nations,  unabsorbed,  unobliterated, 
untransformed — a  fossil  people  in  the  deposits  of  time. 
But  the  Christian  derives  from  this  instance  what  he  justly 
deems  a  vastly  better  lesson  than  that  suggested.  And 
the  physiologist  finds  influences  kept  in  operation  on  the 
Jewish  mind  and  habit,  well  calculated  to  react  upon  the 
physiognomy  and  preserve  some  of  its  marked  features, 
under  considerable  changes  of  other  kinds  which  the  peo- 
ple are  known  to  have  undergone  in  different  regions. 

10 


110  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Stress  is  also  laid  upon  the  correspondence  between  "the 
crania  gotten  from  ancient  places  of  sepulture,  and  the 
modern  heads  of  races  in  the  same  locality,  supposed  to  be 
descended  from  those  there  buried.  This,  however,  is 
plainly  inconclusive  to  the  purpose,  since,  in  such  cases, 
the  former  and  the  recent  have  existed  under  conditions 
too  similar  to  necessitate  a  wide  deviation. 

The  main  evidence,  after  all,  relied  upon,  is  the  exist- 
ence of  negro  delineations  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt. 
And  we  frankly  acknowledge  there  is,  at  first  view,  some- 
thing in  this  circumstance  apparently  favoring  the  asserted 
original  existence,  even  from  the  very  first,  of  negro  races ; 
but  it  is  only  on  a  superficial  view,  and  merely  in  appear- 
ance. 

Nobody  knows  how  many  years  or  centuries  elapsed  be- 
tween the  creation  of  man,  or  the  flood  of  Noah,  and  the 
construction  of  those  monuments.  There  may  have  been 
abundant  time  for  the  Nisus  Formativi,  or  constitutional 
vital  tendencies,  severally  imparted  to  the  sons  of  one 
father,  to  be  developed,  under  circumstances  favorable  to 
the  introduction  and  transmission  of  the  forms  contem- 
plated in  such  imparted  tendencies,  to  a  very  extreme 
degree.  It  by  no  means  necessarily  requires  a  very  enor- 
mous period  for  peculiar  influences  to  work  out,  in  a  spe- 
cies possessing  some  special  tendencies,  the  extreme  results 
which  they  are  capable  of  producing.  "It  follows,"  says 
Sir  Charles  Lyell,  (Elements  of  Geology,  vol.  ii.  p.  464,) 
"from  many  facts,  that  a  short  period  of  time  is  generally 
sufficient  to  effect  nearly  the  whole  change  which  an  alter- 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  Ill 

ation  of  external  circumstances  can  bring  about  in  the 
habits  of  a  species." 

It  may  very  well  have  been,  therefore,  that  the  descend- 
ants of  one  son  of  a  family,  who  had  received  a  certain 
constitutional  tendency,  according  to  a  great  providential 
plan,  passing  into  Egypt,  occupied  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Nile,  and,  after  a  moderate  period,  multiplying  greatly, 
spread  themselves  to  the  southward,  and  experienced,  un- 
der the  operation  of  causes  adapted  to  develop  it,  the  evo- 
lution in  varying  measure  of  that  general  tendency  they 
had  inherited;  until,  ere  long,  the  diversified  grades  of 
dark  skin,  crisped  hair,  and  prominent  lips  were  produced, 
terminating  in  the  extreme  of  thorough  negro  peculiari- 
ties. And  that  individuals  of  the  race  thus  developed 
should,  in  the  course  of  no  great  number  of  centuries, 
considering  the  course  of  the  Nile  valley  and  the  general 
relations  of  the  country,  be  introduced  into  Egypt  by 
curiosity,  trade,  or  war,  could  hardly  be  otherwise  than 
inevitable. 

Of  this  probability,  some  very  remarkable  confirmations 
are  furnished  in  certain  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  late  discov- 
eries. First,  that  the  sources  of  the  Nile  occur,  it  seems, 
not  in  a  lofty  mountain  region,  difficult  of  access,  but  in 
the  elevated,  humid,  southern  plateau  between  south  lati- 
tude 6°  and  12°.  (See  Livingstone's  Trav.  p.  514.)  Second, 
that  the  peculiar  customs  of  flour  and  bread  making,  and 
of  spinning  and  weaving,  which  he  met  with  in  the  heart 
of  Southern  Africa,  are  the  exact  counterpart  of  pro- 
cesses delineated  in  the  old  Egyptian  sketches.  (See  those 


112  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

sketches,  as  given  from  Wilkinson  by  Livingstone,  pp.  213 
and  434.) 

Now,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  this  connection,  that 
while  Biinsen  and  Lepsius,  certainly  the  best  Egyptolo- 
gists of  this  or  any  other  age,  from  the  monuments  assign 
to  the  old  Egyptian  monarchy  an  antiquity  reaching  back 
to  3893  B.C.  (See  Egypt's  Place  in  Univ.  Hist.,  passim.) 
Even  the  industrious  propounders  of  the  permanent-type 
doctrine,  after  scrutinizing  the  records  from  Memphis  to 
Meroe,  can  find  no  negro  delineation  more  ancient  than 
"the  twenty-fourth  century  B.C."  (Types,  p.  239.)  It  is 
true  these  authors  claim  the  right  to  "infer  that  these 
Nigritian  types  were  contemporary  with  the  earliest  Egyp- 
tians." But  it  is  manifest  that  an  inference  filling  so  pro- 
digious a  gap  as  sixteen  centuries,  is  the  mere  substitution 
of  bold  assumption  for  non-existing  evidence.  Science  no 
more  allows  such  random  leaps  to  conclusions,  than  justice 
would  sanction  the  procedure  of  a  jury  hastening  to  con- 
sign a  perhaps  innocent  fellow-creature  to  the  gallows,  by 
bridging  with  inferential  guesses  vast  chasms  in  testimony. 

The  truth  is,  the  utter  absence  of  all  negro  representa- 
tions, from  the  oldest  Egyptian  monuments,  through  a 
period,  as  yet  ascertained,  of  sixteen  hundred  years,  is  a 
most  significant  fact  in  contravention  of  the  very  inference 
and  theory  of  absolute  original  contemporaneousness.  The 
very  occurrence  of  a  negroid  form  in  those  sketches,  only 
at  the  end  of  a  considerable  period,  during  which  the 
delineating  art  was  practiced,  is  a  striking  indication  that 
not  till  then  had  these  forms  become  familiar  in  Egypt, 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  113 

a  singular  confirmation  of  the  view  entertained  by  Lepsius 
and  Biinsen  from  their  own  researches,  and  of  the  proba- 
bilities we  just  now  exhibited  on  independent  grounds,  that 
the  African  races  were  developed  only  in  the  course  of 
ages  from  Egypt  downward. 

In  arguing  thus,  from  the  Manetho-monumental  chro- 
nology, we  neither  admit  nor  deny  its  absolute  correctness. 
It  may  be  generally  true.  It  may  be  partially  erroneous. 
But  we  are  authorized  to  suppose  that  through  its  entire 
range  it  is  proportionally  the  one  or  the  other  So  as,  in 
either  view,  to  leave  the  argument  entirely  valid. 

Nor,  in  conditionally  admitting  the  most  extended 
Egyptian  chronology,  or  even  some  reasonable  indefinite 
period  between  its  farthest  limit  and  the  Noachian  deluge, 
do  we  intend  the  slightest  disrespect  to  the  time-calcula- 
tions heretofore  founded  on  the  genealogical  lists  of  the 
Bible.  While  believing  with  Biinsen  (Egypt's  Place,  etc., 
p.  160,)  and  Lepsius  (Letters  from  Egypt,  p.  361,)  that 
the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as  the  New,  was  designed  for 
practical  religious  benefit,  and  not  by  revelation  to  con- 
vey a  full  account  of  ancient  chronology,  or  any  other 
branch  of  mere  human  knowledge;  and  with  Michaelis 
and  Prichard,  that  the  genealogical  lists  between  Noah 
and  Abraham  may  be  incomplete,  as  indicated  by  a  com- 
parison of  Genesis,  x.  24,  and  Luke,  iii.  36;  1  Chronicles, 
vi.  1-4,  and  vii.  23-2*7,  we  also  believe  with  them  all,  that 
there  is  in  the  world  no  other  history  so  truthful,  and, 
where  it  professes  to  give  a  complete,  unbroken  narrative, 
so  accurate  as  that  of  the  Bible. 
10* 


114  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Egypt  and  its  monuments  furnish,  then,  no  reliable  evi- 
dence for  the  contemporaneousness  and  permanence,  ab 
initio,  of  the  white  and  black  varieties  of  men,  or  of  pri- 
mordial specific  distinctions  between  them.  How  else, 
indeed,  should  the  most  recent  and  most  consummate 
Egyptologists  be  among  the  most  earnest  advocates, 
in  the  history  of  science,  of  a  strict  unity  in  the  human 
family  ? 

Another  weak  support  for  the  primitive  and  ever-con- 
tinued diversity  doctrine  is  derived  from  ancient  human 
relics  variously  exhumed,  and  referred  not  only  to  a  very 
remote  age,  but  to  races  diverse  as  those  now  existing. 
For  instance,  a  supposed  Indian  skull  dug  up  from  among 
buried  stumps,  etc.,  some  sixteen  feet  below  the  surface,  at 
Xew  Orleans,  and  by  a  most  credulous  calculation  assigned 
to  an  imaginary  date  57,000  years  ago.  Of  such  instances 
and  their  bearings  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  our  dis- 
cussion of  "the  age  of  mankind;"  here  it  is  sufficient  to 
make  a  single  remark.  Inferences,  founded  on  a  fanciful 
scheme  so  totally  in  conflict  with  the  known  progress  of 
history  and  of  human  development ;  with  the  mature  con- 
victions of  Lyell,  Murcheson,  and  the  most  accomplished 
geologists,  at  least  up  to  a  very  recent  period,  to  be  noticed 
in  the  sequel ;  with  the  candid  admission  of  so  able  a  sym- 
pathizer in  the  diversity  doctrine  as  Dr.  Jos.  Leidy,  (see 
his  letter  in  the  preface  to  "  Indigenous  Races  of  the  Earth," 
1857,)  "that  no  satisfactory  evidence  has  been  adducedin 
favor  of  this  early  appearance  of  man;"  with  the  com- 
paratively recent  dates  of  the  oldest  recorded  astronomical 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  115 

observations,  the  most  ancient  of  which  ever  heard  of, 
Laplace  tells  us  in  his  Systeme  du  Monde,  are  some  rude 
Chinese  notices  of  eclipses  2000  years  B.C.,  and  the  first 
that  can  be  relied  on  at  all  only  1100  years  B.C.  ;  and  with 
the  limited  range  of  even  Egyptian  chronology, — are  too 
preposterous  to  require  serious  refutation. 

One  other  statement,  adduced  in  behalf  of  unchangeable 
permanence  and  primordial  distinction  of  races,  remains 
to  be  considered,  viz.,  that  the  negroes  in  America  have 
not  improved,  and  are  not  improvable,  save  in  some  lower 
particulars  scarcely  worthy  of  notice. 

The  remark  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  that  they  are  undergo- 
ing a  manifest  improvement,  is  pronounced  "an  unscientific 
assertion."  "  One  or  two  generations  of  domestic  culture," 
it  is  affirmed,  "effect  all  the  improvement  of  which  the 
negro  organism  is  susceptible." 

Respecting  this,  as  a  question  of  fact,  most  readers  in 
the  United  States,  certainly  all  residents  of  our  Southern 
section,  have  some  means  of  judging  from  personal  obser- 
vation. Such  observations,  it  is  true,  embrace  too  brief  a 
'period  to  furnish  any  satisfactory  solution  of  the  question; 
still,  they  may  give  an  impression  entitled  to  some  credit, 
as  to  the  tendencies  in  the  case,  and  especially  when  the 
observed  characteristics  of  our  blacks  are  compared  with 
descriptions  or  delineations  of  the  traits  still  prevalent  in 
Guinea.  Our  own  impression,  derived  from  such  sources 
and  from  life-long  familiarity  with  Southern  plantation- 
life,  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  hundreds  of  the  race, 
some  of  whom,  as  known  by  us  in  infancy,  were  natives  of 


116  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR    THE   BIBLE. 

Africa,  is,  that  Lyell  was  not  so  much  mistaken  on  this 
point;  and  that,  notwithstanding  exaggerated  specimens 
of  the  lowest  standard  not  unfrequently  to  be  seen,  there 
is  on  the  whole,  and  apart  from  all  suggested  suspicions  of 
mixed  blood,  a  very  marked  improvement  of  the  race — 
physically,  intellectually,  and  morally. 

The  accomplishment  of  such  a  result,  indeed,  may  be 
regarded  as  among  the  final  causes  by  which  the  destiny 
of  that  race  in  America  has  been  determined.  A  principle 
which  Southerners  may,  on  the  most  solid  basis  of  truth, 
triumphantly  maintain  against  all  opposers,  in  vindication 
of  their  moral  position,  as  part  of  a  vast  scheme  of  an  all- 
wise  and  benign  Providence.  Xay,  the  benefit  has  been 
incalculably  beyond  the  improvement  mentioned.  For 
thousands,  even  millions,  of  these  otherwise  degraded 
heathen,  have,  in  this  peculiar  situation,  become,  to  all 
human  appearance,  partakers  of  the  highest  blessings  of 
the  everlasting  gospel.  This,  indeed,  is  no  excuse  for  the 
covetousness  and  cruelty  commonly  involved  in  their  orig- 
inal capture  and  transportation,  but  it  is,  in  connection 
with  the  lessons  of  Scripture  already  referred  to,  a  full* 
vindication  of  the  general  beneficence  of  this  system  of 
bondage,  as  in  existence,  and  of  the  Christian  virtue  of 
those  pious  masters,  who,  holding  their  servants  as  under 
Divine  sanction,  endeavor  faithfully  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  their  station  under  a  sacred  sense  of  responsibility  to 
their  "Master  in  heaven."  (Col.  iv.  1.) 

But  in  thus  giving  our  impression  on  the   particular 
point  of  a  considerable  degree  of  actual  elevation,  already 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  117 

effected,  and  to  be  still  more  accomplished  for  the  raco, 
through  their  experience  in  onr  Southern  country,  we  are 
by  no  means  committing  ourselves  to  a  general  theory  of 
possible  upward  development  in  this  or  any  other  race. 

* 

Elevation  and  degradation  are  very  opposite  processes,  in 
individuals,  families,  and  races.  The  one,  according,  as  it 
would  seem,  to  a  prevalent  constitution  of  nature,  is  for 
the  most  part  comparatively  easy  to  be  effected,  and  soon 
consummated.  The  other,  even  when  practicable,  as  often 
it  is  not,  is  extremely  difficult  and  of  slow  attainment. 
Nor  does  it  at  all  follow  that  because  one  set  of  influences 
rapidly  evolves  a  deteriorating  tendency  to  its  lowest  limit, 
influences  of  an  opposite  character  can  fully,  if  at  all, 
restore  the  depreciated  individual  or  class.  A  constitution 
seriously  impaired  by  exposure  or  excess  can  seldom  be  by 
any  means  completely  renovated ;  and  the  taints  of  blood, 
fixed  by  repeated  transmission,  under  circumstances  adapted 
to  the  tendency,  are  sometimes  ineradicable  by  any  remedial 
measures.  As  the  converse  of  a  proposition  is  not  neces- 
sarily true  in  logic,  so  the  reverse  of  a  deteriorating  process 
may  not  be  attainable  in  nature.  The  divine  plan,  though 
having  admitted,  under  given  conditions,  a  downward 
deviation  from  a  stock  coincident  with  the  best  Shemitic 
or  Japhetic,  to  the  lowest  negro,  may  not,  even  under  oppo- 
site conditions,  admit  a  complete  return  to  such  coinci- 
dence. A  very  extensive  range  of  improvability,  indeed, 
in  creatures  of  almost  every  class,  under  favorable  in- 
fluences, must  be  admitted  as  a  general  law  of  nature. 
And  such  instances  as  the  Mandan  Indians,  the  Malayans 


118  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

of  Tahiti,  the  Aurarian  Berbers,  etc.,  actually  exhibit  that 
improvability  in  varieties  of  men  of  very  marked  character, 
and  on  a  scale  to  which  no  low  limit  can  be  justly  assigned. 
So  that  there  is  good  reason  to  expect,  under  the  contin- 
uance of  favorable  influences,  a  very  considerable  elevation 
of  the  negro  race.  It  is  our  belief,  moreover,  that  such 
improvement  is  to  be  wrought  out  very  much  through  their 
relation  to  our  own  Southern  States.  Still,  we  know  not 
that  it  is  other  than  an  unauthorized  assumption  to  suppose 
that  they  can,  under  any  combination  of  circumstances,  ever 
be  restored  to  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  social  condition 
of  the  highest  European  standard.  And  hopeful  as  we  are 
concerning  the  gradual  elevation  of  the  masses  of  mankind, 
of  all  varieties,  under  the  great  ameloriating  agencies  of 
Christianity  and  modern  civilization,  till  this,  and  every 
other  race  shall  attain  the  best  standard  of  which  it  is 
susceptible,  we  have  little  expectation  of  their  fully  recover- 
ing the  structural  symmetry,  cuticular  texture,  complexional 
beauty,  and  ornamental  locks,  which,  in  their  pristine  state, 
distinguished,  we  may  believe, 

"Adam  the  goodliest  man  of  men  since  born 
His  sons,  and  fairest  of  her  daughters  Eve.'' 

But,  however  this  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  observations 
are  altogether  too  incomplete  to  authorize  dogmatism 
either  way  in  this  incidental  poiut.  And  it  is  still  more 
obvious  that  even  if  negroes  should  in  the  future,  however 
by  favorable  influences  elevated  in  the  human  scale,  always 
continue  negroes,  it  will  furnish  no  necessary  proof  that 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  119 

they  always  have  been.  They  may  have  been  developed 
downward,  and  yet  never  be  allowed  in  all  respects  to 
redevelop  upward.  The  possibilities  of  the  future,  apart 
from  revealed  sanctions,  constitute  however  a  mere  spec- 
ulation, with  which  it  is  no  appropriate  concern  of  scien- 
tific investigation  to  amuse  or  perplex  itself.  Its  proper 
sphere  is  the  actual,  and  in  that  sphere  the  hypothesis  of 
absolute  permanence  of  type  through  all  past  time  finds 
no  support.  Facts  abundant,  in  the  phenomena  of  vari- 
ation among  lower  animals,  and  in  the  history  of  human 
varieties,  and  even  significant  tokens  in  the  early  Egyptian 
monuments,  array  themselves  invincibly  against  the  notion 
of  unvarying  continuance  of  the  white  and  black,  and  all 
other  races,  as  they  now  are,  from  the  very  dawn  of  human 
existence. 

And  nature,  in  reply  to  the  interrogatory  of  science, 
returns  a  distinct  negative  to  each  branch  of  the  unvarying 
primordial  type  proposition. 

Having  thus  scrutinized,  as  proposed,  the  main  argu- 
ments adduced  by  the  supporters  of  the  diversity  doctrine, 
and  found  them  unsubstantial  and  delusive,  we  proceed 
briefly  to  present  the  chief  considerations  which  satisfy  us 
of  the  specific  unity  of  the  human  family.  Such  consider- 
ations, in  addition  to  many  already  incidentally  adduced, 
are,  first,  affiliations  of  language ;  second,  discernible  pro- 
cesses of  distribution ;  third,  physical,  physiological,  and 
psychological  correspondences  among  men  of  all  varieties ; 
and,  fourth,  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  Our  limits  admit 
of  the  merest  sketch  of  evidence  under  these  several  heads. 


120  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

The  proof  from  affiliated  language,  in  spite  of  extraor- 
dinary suggestions  to  the  contrary  thrown  out  by  Agassiz 
and  others,  is  really  decisive  of  the  question  of  the  common 
origin  of  the  tribes  of  our  race, — it  being  plainly  incred- 
ible, that,  among  the  infinitely  diversified  combinations  of 
sound  of  which  the  human  organs  are  everywhere  capable, 
systematic  coincidences  in  the  structure  of  words  and 
sentences,  among  different  people,  should  endlessly  occur 
by  mere  accident.  It  is  vain  also  to  attribute  this  agree- 
ment to  the  natural  tendencies  of  organs  similarly  con- 
structed. No  unprejudiced  man,  in  his  senses,  can  be 
made  to  believe  that  while  the  Greek  machinery  for  utter- 
ance evolved  the  word  "a/rroc,"  to  express  what  the 
English  and  American  speaking  apparatus  denotes  by 
"bread,"  and  the  Latin  organs  of  sound  suggested  by 
"panis,"  all  widely  distinct,  and  especially  the  last  utterly 
unlike  the  other  two,  the  French  mouth  should  have  de- 
veloped, solely  by  the  correspondence  of  its  structure  with 
that  of  the  old  Roman,  the  articulation  "pam,"  for  the 
identical  thing.  Every  mind  immediately  discovers  that 
the  French  word  is  really  the  Latin,  adopted  and  slightly 
changed ;  and  so  in  a  thousand  instances. 

The  occurrence  of  a  few  such  coincidences  in  any  two 
tongues  shows  manifestly  some  connection  between  the 
people  speaking  them ;  and  the  appearance  of  a  great 
many  proves  a  very  close  connection,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Italian,  French,  etc.,  with  the  Latin.  But,  when,  besides 
corresponding  words,  the  very  mode  of  arranging  the 
elementary  sounds  to  produce  words  is  found  coincident  in 


THE  HUMAN   FAMILY.  121 

two  languages,  and  the  method  of  varying  words  in  ex- 
pressing the  relations  of  things  is  discovered  to  be  mainly 
the  same,  not  only  is  a  close  connection  between  these 
nations  indubitably  proved,  but  it  is  distinctly  shown  that 
their  two  classes  of  utterance  are  pervaded  by  a  common 
contrivance,  and  therefore  emanated  from  one  mental  in- 
fluence,— that  they  are  in  fact  parallel  streams  flowing  from 
the  same  source.  The  radical  consonantal  arrangements 
so  extensively  prevailing,  for  instance  in  the  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  the  diffused  parallelism  of  their  declensions 
and  conjugations,  constitute  the  most  reliable  historical 
documents  concerning  their  common  ancestry.  So  in  like 
manner  with  the  French  and  English.  Such  exactly  agree- 
ing modes  of  expressing  thought  as  "  L'homme-de- 
guerre,"  and  "  The-man-of-war,"  pervading  the  two  lan- 
guages, are  but  part  of  the  family  likeness  transmitted  from 
the  same  parentage. 

Thoroughly  to  explore  the  tongues  of  the  earth  is,  then, 
the  true  way  to  determine  the  great  question  of  origin,  as 
a  scientific  question.  But  this  is  a  laborious  process,  not 
to  be  pursued  without  untiring  patience,  accumulated  efforts, 
and  vast  erudition.  No  wonder  it  is  depreciated  by  the 
impatient,  superficial,  and  unlearned  theorists,  claiming  to 
be  scientific,  who  can  so  easily  substitute  for  it  a  few  half- 
observed  appearances,  a  crude  hypothesis,  a  bold  utter- 
ance, and  an  abundant  amount  of  dogmatism  and  denun- 
ciation ;  and  by  dint  of  defiant  assertion  palm  it  upon  the 
prejudiced,  the  busy,  and  the  credulous,  as  science. 

11 


122  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

"Languages,"  says  Baron  Humboldt,  (Kosmos,  vol.  ii. 
p.  4Y1,)  "compared  together,  and  considered  as  objects 
of  the  natural  history  of  the  mind,  and  when  separated 
into  families  according  to  the  analogies  existing  in  their 
internal  structure,  have  become  a  rich  source  of  historical 
knowledge ;  and  this  is  probably  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
results  of  modern  study  in  the  last  sixty  or  seventy  years. 
From  the  very  fact  of  their  being  products  of  the  intel- 
lectual force  of  mankind,  they  lead  us,  by  means  of  the 
elements  of  their  organism,  into  an  obscure  distance,  un- 
reached  by  traditionary  records.  The  comparative  study 
of  languages  shows  us  that  races  now  separated  by  vast 
tracts  of  land  are  allied  together,  and  have  migrated  from 
one  common  primitive  seat;  it  indicates  the  course  and 
direction  of  all  migrations,  and,  in  tracing  the  leading 
epochs  of  development,  recognizes,  by  means  of  the  more 
or  less  changed  structure  of  the  language,  in  the  perma- 
nence of  certain  forms,  or  in  the  more  or  less  advanced 
distinction  of  the  formative  system,  which  has  retained 
most  nearly  the  language  common  to  all  who  had  migrated 
from  the  general  seat  of  origin." 

"  The  largest  field  for  such  investigations  into  the  ancient 
condition  of  language,  and  consequently  into  the  period 
when  the  whole  family  of  mankind  was,  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  to  be  regarded  as  one  living  whole,  presents 
itself  in  the  long  chain  of  Indo-Germanic  languages, 
extending  from  the  Gauges  to  the  Iberian  extremity  of 
Europe,  and  from  Sicily  to  the  North  Cape." 

"The  same  comparative  study  of  languages  leads  us 


THE    HUMAN   FAMILY.  123 

also  to  the  native  country  of  certain  products,  which  from 
the  earliest  ages  have  constituted  important  objects  of 
trade  and  barter.  The  Sanscrit  names  of  genuine  Indian 
products,  as  those  of  rice,  cotton,  spikenard,  and  sugar, 
have,  as  we  find,  passed  into  the  language  of  the  Greeks, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  even  into  those  of  Shemitic 
origin." 

"From  these  considerations,  and  the  examples  by  which 
they  have  been  illustrated,  the  comparative  study  of  lan- 
guages appears  an  important  rational  means  of  assistance 
by  which  scientific  and  genuinely  philological  investigation 
may  lead  to  a  generalization  of  views  regarding  the  af- 
finity of  races,  and  their  conjectural  extension  in  various 
directions  from  one  common  point  of  radiation." 

The  processes  thus  indicated,  originating  in  the  saga- 
cious intellect  of  Leibnitz,  have  been  since  pressed  forward, 
and  especially  within  the  last  two  generations,  with  amaz- 
ing industry  and  ability  by  the  leading  scientific  linguists 
of  the  world.  Adelung  and  Yater,  Schlegel  and  Bopp, 
Rask  and  Guinon,  William  Yon  Humboldt  and  Lepsius, 
Gyarmathi  and  Schott,  Furst  and  Delitzch,  Miiller  and 
Biinseu,  etc.,  and,  most  memorable  of  all,  that  unrivaled 
martyr  to  learning,  already  mentioned,  Alexander  Castren, 
"who,  after  his  prodigious  tour  of  exposure  and  labor  in 
pursuit  of  linguistic  knowledge,  returned  to  his  duties  as 
professor  at  Helsingfors,  to  die,  after  he  had  given  to  the 
world  but  a  few  specimens  of  his  rich  treasures."  (Biinsen's 
Christianity  and  Mankind,  vol.  ii.  p.  274.) 

Some  of  the  results  reached  by  these  thorough  explorers, 


124  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOE   THE   BIBLE. 

and  attested  by  such  sure  witnesses,  have  been  already 
referred  to ;  we  add  a  few  others  of  striking  character. 

"  The  evidence  of  language,"  says  Professor  Max  Miiller, 
(ibid.,)  "is  irrefragible,  and  it  is  the  only  evidence  worth 
listening  to,  with  regard  to  ante-historical  periods.  It 
would  have  been  next  to  impossible  to  discover  any  traces 
of  relationship  between  the  swarthy  nations  of  India  and 
their  conquerors,  whether  Alexander  or  Clive,  but  for  the 
testimony  borne  by  language.  What  authority  would  have 
been  strong  enough  to  persuade  the  Grecian  army  that 
their  gods  and  their  hero  ancestors  were  the  same  as  those 
of  King  Porus,  or  to  convince  the  English  soldier  that  the 
same  blood  was  running  in  his  veins  and  in  those  of  the 
dark  Bengalee?  And  yet  there  is  not  an  English  jury 
now-a-days,  which,  after  examining  the  hoary  documents 
of  language,  would  reject  the  claim  of  a  common  descent 
and  a  legitimate  relationship  between  Hindoo,  Greek,  and 
Teuton." 

But  the  results  of  such  investigations  extend  very  far 
beyond  the  obvious  affiliations  in  the  several  branches  of 
the  great  Iranian  stock. 

"The  heads,"  says  Biinsen,  (vol.  iii.  p.  1T2,)  "of  the 
critical  Hebrew  school,  Gesenius  and  Ewald,  had  thrown 
out  a  hint  that,  by  the  reduction  of  the  tri-literal .  Hebrew 
roots  to  bi-literal  ones,  (proposed  already  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,)  we  might  find  strong  reason  to  suspect  a 
radical  affinity  between  Hebrew  and  Sanscrit.  Klaproth 
had  pronounced,  without  reserve,  that  it  was  so.  And,  in 
1838-40,  two  masters  of  the  Hebrew  tongue — Furst,  of 


THE   HUMAN    FAMILY.  125 

Leipsic,  (himself  a  Jew,)  and  more  especially  Delitzch,  of 
Halle — accepting  the  method  adopted  by  Indo-Gerinanic 
scholars,  maintained  and  exemplified  the  constant  and 
undeniable  analogy  between  Indo-Germanic  and  Sanscrit 

roots And   Lepsius   and   Dr.  Charles   Meyer  have 

established  the  fact  beyond  all  doubt,  that  there  exists  an 
undeniable  community  of  living  roots  between  the  two 
families.  They  have  further  shown  that,  in  many  in- 
stances, the  Egyptian  roots  present  the  intermediate  links 
between  both,  as  well  in  words  as  in  forms." 

From  his  own  researches  into  the  Babylonian,  Egyptian, 
and  other  tongues,  Biinsen  adds,  (ibid.)  : — 

"  If  the  Indo-European  languages  exhibit  undeniable  proof 
of  the  gradual  extension  of  these  races  from  the  eastern 
part  of  Central  Asia,  the  Shemitic  tongues  present  no  less 
striking  evidences  of  their  being  derived  from  the  western 
part  of  the  primitive  seat  of  mankind.  The  range  of  the 
Shemitic  branch  is  less  extended  than  that  of  the  Iranian, 
but  it  forms  a  more  compact  and  not  less  interesting  mass. 
The  Shemitic  tribes  never  extended  into  Europe,  except  by 
temporary  incursions.  They  have,  however,  not  lost  their 
ground  in  Asia,  Armenia  excepted,  and  have  penetrated 
into  Africa,  at  various  epochs,  even  in  the  historical  times, 
in  which,  assuredly,  no  traces  of  Japhetic  origin  are  dis- 
cernible. It  is  a  fact  which  can  be  philologically  proved, 
that  the  Shemitic  formation  constitutes  the  ground-work  of 
African  languages,  from  the  Mediterranean  coast  of  Africa 
into  the  interior  of  that  mysterious  country  even  beyond 
the  eouator,  in  an  uninterrupted  line." 

11* 


126  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOE   THE   BIBLE. 

This  remark  may  be  extended  through  a  statement,  by 
William  Yon  Humboldt,  of  singular  interest  in  connection 
with  the  Nigrito  races  of  Polynesia  and  New  Holland, 
already  spoken  of. 

"  To  judge  correctly,"  he  says,  "  of  the  negro  races  in 
their  pure  form,  we  must  always  commence  with  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  great  southern  continent;  as  between  these 
and  the  brown  races  no  direct  contact  is  conceivable,  and., 
according  to  their  present  condition,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive any  kind  even  of  indirect  connection.  The  remark- 
able fact,  however,  still  remains,  that  many  words  in  the 
languages  of  these  races,  although  we  certainly  possess 
only  a  few  of  them,  bear  an  evident  likeness  to  words  of 
the  South  Sea  Islands." 

The  languages  of  the  latter  are,  from  critical  examina- 
tion, classed  by  Miiller,  Biinsen,  etc.,  in  that  vast  circle  of 
non-Iranian  and  non-Shemitic  dialects,  to  which  they  give 
the  general  name  Turanian.  This,  it  will  be  remembered, 
is  the  immense  sweep  of  kindred  families,  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  whose  tongues  Castren  so  heroically  devoted  him- 
self. 

Of  this  great  assemblage,  Miiller,  after  a  most  elaborate 
analysis,  affirms:  "Two  nuclei  may  be  distinguished,  a 
Northern  and  a  Southern ;  and  of  these,  still  farther  back, 
a  coalescence  in  one  common  form.  Here,"  he  adds, 
(Biinsen,  vol.  iii.,)  "where  the  differences  between  the  Tura- 
nian languages  cease,  the  first  stamina  of  the  ancient 
Shemitic  and  Arian  are  found  to  converge  toward  the  same 
centre  of  life.  Radicals  applied  to  certain  definite  but 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  12f 

material  meanings  in  common  by  all  Turanian  dialects, 
belong  to  this  primitive  era,  and  some  of  them  can  even 
now  be  proved  the  common  property  of  the  Turanian,  the 
Shemitic,  and  the  Arian  branches." 

Among  the  numerous  dialects  comprehended  under  the 
general  term  Turanian,  spoken  by  more  than  a  third  of  the 
human  race,  may  be  reckoned  the  Chinese,  and  cognate,  so 
termed,  monosyllabic  tongues.  The  peculiarities  which 
these  present  have  been  much  dwelt  upon  by  diversity 
authors,  as  supposed  to  offer  insuperable  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  scientific  critical  affiliation  with  other  forms  of  hu- 
man speech.  (See  Mr.  Maury's  paper,  on  the  classification 
of  tongues,  in  Nott  and  GHddon's  Indigenous  Races.) 
]STor  have  explorers  holding  different  views  been  indisposed 
candidly  to  admit  more  or  less  of  difficulty  in  those  pecu- 
liarities. So  late  as  184T,  Biinsen,  in  his  celebrated  paper 
of  that  year  before  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  said :  "  The  difficulties  are  immense.  .  .  . 
Nor  do  we  undertake  to  answer  the  question  whether  that 
wreck  of  the  primitive  language,  that  monument  of  inor- 
ganic structure,  the  Chinese,  can  be  linked,  by  any  scien- 
tific method,  to  the  other  families  of  human  speech,  and 
thus,  directly  or  indirectly,  connected  with  the  great  tripar- 
tite civilizing  family  of  mankind,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet. 
But  we  add,  there  is  no  scientific  proof  that  it  cannot.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  gap  between  that  formation  (Chinese)  and  all 
others,  and  that  gap  corresponds  probably  to  that  caused 
in  the  general  development  of  the  human  race  by  great 
destructive  floods,  (we  pause  not  to  notice  questions  here 


128  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

suggested,)  which  separate  the  history  of  our  race  from  its 
primordial  origins." 

Later  and  fuller  researches,  however,  exhibited  in  Ban- 
sen's  more  recent  and  important  work,  Christianity  and 
Mankind,  have  removed  some  of  the  difficulties  before 
admitted,  and  have  shown  undeniable  bonds  of  affinity 
between  the  Chinese  and  cognate  languages  and  the  other 
tongues  of  the  earth.  (See  Max  Miiller's  masterly  exposi- 
tion of  "the  last  results  of  Turanian  researches, "especially 
his  chapter  on  the  relation  of  the  Ta'i  to  the  Lohitic  lan- 
guages, and  their  connection  with  the  Bhotiya  class  and 
Chinese.  Biinsen,  vol.  iii.  pp.  390-402.) 

"As  to  the  formal  elements,  or  the  grammatical  growth 
of  language,"  he  maintains,  "no  difficulty  exists  in  con- 
sidering the  grammatical  system  of  Sanscrit,  the  most  per- 
fect of  the  Arian  dialects,  as  the  natural  development  of 
Chinese — an  admission  made  even  by  those  who  are  most 
opposed  to  generalizations  in  the  science  of  languages." 

He  further  insists :  "  These  two  points  comparative  phi- 
lology has  gained — 

"  1.  Nothing  necessitates  the  admission  of  different  in- 
dependent beginnings  for  the  MATERIAL  elements  of  the 
Turanian,  Shemitic,  and  Arian  branches  of  speech; 
nay,  it  is  possible  even  now  to  point  out  radicals  which, 
under  various  changes  and  disguises,  have  been  current 
in  these  three  branches  ever  since  their  first  separation. 

"2.  Nothing  necessitates  the  admission  of  different 
beginnings  for  the  FORMAL  elements  of  the  Turanian, 
Shemitic,  and  Arian  brandies  of  speech;  and,  though  it 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  129 

is  impossible  to  derive  the  Arian  system  of  grammar 
from  the  Shemitic,  or  the  Shemitic  from  the  Turanian, 
we  can  perfectly  understand  how,  either  through  individ- 
ual influences,  or  by  the  wear  and  tear  of  grammar  in 
its  own  continuous  working,  the  different  systems  of 
grammar  of  Asia  and  Europe  may  have  been  produced." 

"Translated  into  historical  language,"  he  continues,  in 
accordance  with  the  convictions  of  Humboldt,  "these  gram- 
matical conclusions  establish  the  following  facts: — 

"  The  first  migration  from  the  common  centre  of  man- 
kind proceeded  eastward,  where  the  Asiatic  language  was 
arrested  at  the  first  stage  of  its  growth,  and  where  Chinese, 
as  a  broken  link,  presents  to  the  present  day  a  reflection 
of  the  earliest  consolidation  of  human  speech,"  etc.,  etc. 
(Ibid.,  pp.  479-480.) 

With  these  important  facts  and  conclusions,  Biinsen, 
by  means  of  the  abundant  data  furnished  in  Schoolcraft's 
elaborate  collection,  has  been  enabled,  in  the  most  un- 
doubting  manner,  to  connect  the  dialects  of  the  North 
American  Indians.  "The  linguistic  data,"  he  declares, 
"thus,  furnished,  combined  with  the  traditions  and  customs, 
and  particularly  with  the  system  of  mnemonic  writing, 
(first  revealed  in  Schoolcraft's  work,)  enable  me  to  say 
that  the  Asiatic  origin  of  all  these  tribes  is  as  fully  proved 
as  the  unity  of  family  among  themselves." 

Thus  are  all  the  languages  of  the  earth,  however  at  first 
view  apparently  dissociated  and  incongruous,  traceable  to 
one  source ;  and,  by  consequence,  all  human  tribes  have  pro- 
ceeded from  one  centre  and  descended  from  one  parentage. 


130  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

And  the  unity  thus  traced,  as  justly  and  eloquently  re- 
marked by  the  copiously  furnished  author  last  quoted,  "is 
not  simply  a  physical,  external  one ;  it  is  that  of  thought, 
wisdom,  arts,  science,  and  civilization.  By  facts  still  more 
conclusive  than  the  succession  of  strata  in  geology,  com- 
parative philology  proves  what  our  religious  records  pos- 
tulate— that  the  civilization  of  mankind  is  not  a  patch-work 
of  incoherent  fragments,  not  an  inorganic  complex  of  vari- 
ous courses  of  development,  starting  from  numberless 
beginnings,  flowing  in  isolated  beds,  and  destined  only  to 
disappear  in  order  to  make  room  for  other  tribes  running 
the  same  course  in  monotonous  rotation.  For  beyond  all 
other  documents,  there  is  preserved  in  language  that  sacred 
tradition  of  primeval  thought  and  art  which  connects  all 
the  historical  families  of  mankind,  not  only  as  brethren  by 
descent,  but  each  as  the  depository  of  a  phasis  of  one  and 
the  same  development.  In  language  are  deposited  the 
primordial  sparks  of  that  celestial  fire  which,  from  a  once 
bright  centre  of  civilization,  has  streamed  over  the  inhab- 
ited earth,  and  which  now  already  forms  a  galaxy  round 
the  globe — a  chain  of  light  from  pole  to  pole."  (Vol.  iv.  p. 
112.) 

Immediately  connected  with  these  demonstrative  utter- 
ances of  scientific  comparative  philology,  are  the  indica- 
tions of  the  same  general  truth  furnished  by  the  traceable 
processes  of  human  distribution.  The  relation  of  many 
of  the  tongues  of  the  earth  to  each  other  constitutes,  as 
we  have  seen,  a  very  sure  guidance  to  some  of  the  other- 
wise undiscoverable  traces  of  paths  along  which  tribes  of 


THE   HUMAN    FAMILY.  131 

men  have  trod,  in  wandering  from  their  primitive  Asiatic 
home  to  distant  regions.  There  is  much  in  the  affiliation 
of  dialects,  and  in  the  observed  relative  development  of 
speech,  to  indicate,  in  the  words  of  Baron  Humboldt,  "the 
course  and  direction  of  all  migrations."  These,  however, 
are  not  the  only  means  by  which  man  may  be  traced  in  his 
farthest  rovings. 

There  are  highways  on  this  globe,  constructed  by  higher 
than  human  art,  whose  courses,  though  definite  as  a  planet's 
path,  have  remained  as  undetected  till  mapped  by  modern 
skill,  and  that  chiefly  under  the  guidance  of  one  of  our 
distinguished  countrymen,  an  American,  and  a  Southerner. 
And  those  highways  give  tokens,  engraved  by  a  finger 
whose  marks  are  equally  ineffaceable  and  undeniable,  of 
the  human  travelers  they  have  conducted  to  remotest 
climes. 

The  great  streams  that  flow  unceasingly  through  the 
ocean  constitute  such  highways ;  and  the  great  atmospheric 
currents  above  the  sea  furnish  an  additional  and  unerring 
locomotive  power,  for  transportation,  more  ancient  than 
the  human  race. 

This  is  the  testimony  of  Lieut.  Maury,  in  reply  to  cer- 
tain queries  proposed  by  Dr.  Schoolcraft.  Alluding  in  the 
first  place  to  the  use  made  by  Colonel  Hamilton  Smith,  in 
his  "Natural  History  of  the  Human  Species,"  of  the  Mexi- 
can legend  of  "seven  caves" communicated  by  Montezuma 
to  Cortez,  in  relation  to  a  traditionary  connection  between 
the  Aztec  race  and  the  nations  of  the  Old  World : — 

"The  colonel  had  a  stronger  case  than  he  imagined,  in 


132  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

conjecturing  that  the  Chichimacs  might  have  been  Aleu- 
tians, and  that  'caves,'  if  not  denoting  islands,  might  have 
referred  to  canoes.  The  Aleutians  of  the  present  day 
actually  live  in  caves  or  subterranean  apartments.  They 
are  the  most  bestial  of  the  species,  in  their  habits  copying 
after  the  seal  and  the  whale." 

"These  islands  grow  no  wood.  For  their  canoes,  fish- 
ing implements,  and  cave-hold  utensils,  the  natives  depend 
upon  the  drift-wood  which  is  cast  ashore,  much  of  which 
is  camphor  wood.  Another  link  in  the  chain,  which  is 
growing  quite  strong,  of  evidence  which  for  years  I  have 
been  seeking,  in  confirmation  of  a  gulf  stream,  near  there, 
and  which  runs  from  the  shores  of  China  over  toward 
our  Northwest  coast.''1 

Next,  in  reply  to  the  question  whether  the  Pacific  and 
Polynesian  waters  could  have  been  navigated  in  early 
times : — 

"  Yes  !  if  you  had  a  supply  of  provisions,  you  could  run 
down  the  trades  on  a  log. 

"There  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  nature  would 
tempt  savage  man  more  strongly  to  launch  out  upon  the 
open  sea,  with  his  bark,  however  frail ;  then,  there  is  the 
island  in  the  distance  to  attract  and  allure ;  and  the  next 
step  would  be  to  fit  out  an  expedition.  .  .  .  The  native 
finds  a  hollow  log.  This  is  split  in  two,  and  a  dam  made 
across  either  end  with  knead  of  clay.  He  puts  in  a  few 
cocoa-nuts,  a  calabash  of  water,  breaks  a  green  branch  thick 
with  foliage,  sticks  it  up  as  a  sail,  and  goes  before  the  wind 
at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  miles  the  hour.  I  have  seen 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  133 

them  actually  do  this,  their  little  fleets,  like  'Birnam  wood 
coming  to  Dunsinane,'  by  water.  But  by  some  mishap, 
in  the  course  of  time  this  frail  bark  misses  the  island 
or  falls  to  leeward ;  the  only  chance  then  is  to  submit  to 
the  wind  and  waves  to  go  where  they  will  bear. 

"But  the  South  Sea  Islander  would  soon  get  above 
vessels  with  clay  bows  and  mud  sterns.  As  fissures  in 
bread-trays,  in  negro-cabins  of  the  South,  are  sewed  up 
with  white-oak  splits,  so  the  Marquesas  Islanders  make 
large  canoes  out  of  little  slats  of  wood  sewed  together  with 
cords  of  cocoa-nut  fibre,  the  holes  being  puttied  up  with 
clay.  These  canoes  will  sometimes  hold  twenty  rowers." 

"  In  the  Pacific,  between  25°  and  30°  south,  it  is  easy 
for  such  vessels  to  sail  in  any  direction  between  north 
round  by  west  to  southwest;  and  north  of  the  equator, 
to  the  25th  or  30th  parallel,  it  is  likewise  easy  for  such 
rude  vessels  to  sail  in  any  course  between  northwest  round 
by  the  west  to  south.  It  is  difficult  to  get  to  the  eastward 
within  the  trade-wind  region." 

Again,  in  reply  to  the  inquiry  whether,  before  the  inven- 
tion of  the  compass,  long  voyages  were  possible : — 

"  Such  chance  voyages  were  not  only  possible,  but  more 
than  probable.  When  we  take  into  consideration  the 
position  of  North  America  with  regard  to  Asia,  and  of 
New  Holland  with  regard  to  Africa,  and  with  the  winds 
and  currents  of  the  ocean,  it  would  have  been  more  re- 
markable that  America  should  not  have  been  peopled  from 
Asia,  or  New  Holland  from  Africa,  than  that  they  should 
have  been." 

12 


134  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

"Captain  Ray,  of  the  whale-ship  Superior,  fished  two 
years  ago  in  Behring's  Straits.  He  saw  canoes  going 
from  one  continent  to  the  other.  .  .  .  Along  the  course  of 
the  '  Gulf  Stream,'  from  the  shores  of  China,  already  alluded 
to,  westerly  winds  prevail ;  and  we  have  well-authenticated 
instances  in  which  these  two  agents  have  brought  Japanese 
mariners  in  disabled  vessels  to  the  coasts  of  America." 

"In  the  Indian  Ocean  an  immense  surface  of  water  is 
exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  torrid  zone,  without  any  escape, 
as  it  becomes  expanded,  but  to  the  south.  Accordingly 
we  have  here  the  genesis  of  another  'gulf  stream,'  which 
runs  along  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  bearing  to  the  south 
of  New  Holland." 

"  There  was  then,  in  the  early  ages,  the  Island  of  Mada- 
gascar to  invite  the  African  out  with  his  canoe,  his  raft,  or 
more  substantial  vessel.  There  was  this  current  to  bear 
him  along  at  first,  at  the  rate  of  nearly,  if  not  quite,  one 
hundred  miles  a  day,  and  by  the  time  the  current  began  to 
grow  weak,  it  would  have  borne  him  into  the  region  of 
westerly  winds,  which,  with  the  aid  of  the  current,  would 
finally  waft  him  to  the  southern  shores  of  New  Holland. 
Increasing  and  multiplying  here,  he  would  travel  north  to 
meet  the  sun,  and  in  the  course  of  time  he  would  extend 
himself  over  to  the  other  islands,  as  Papua  and  the  like." 

"When  we  look  at  the  Pacific,  its  islands,  the  winds  and 
currents,  and  consider  the  facilities  there  that  nature  has 
provided  for  drifting  savage  man,  with  his  rude  implements 
of  navigation,  about,  we  shall  see  that  there  the  induce- 
ments held  out  to  him  to  try  the  sea  are  powerful.  With 


THE   HUMAN  FAMILY.  135 

the  bread-fruit  and  the  cocoa-nut,  man's  natural  barrels 
there  of  beef  and  bread,  and  the  calabash,  his  natural 
water-cask,  he  had  all  the  stores  for  a  long  voyage  already 
at  hand."  (Schoolcraft,  vol.  i.  p.  23.) 

Upon  the  first  part  of  this,  and  other  particulars  of  like 
character,  the  learned  American  ArchaBologist  remarks: 
"  Thus  we  have  traditionary  gleams  of  the  foreign  origin 
of  the  race  of  North  American  Indians.  .  .  .  They  point 
directly  to  an  Oriental  origin.  Such  has  from  the  first 
been  inferred.  At  whatever  point  the  investigation  has 
been  made,  the  eastern  hemisphere  has  been  found  to  con- 
tain the  physical  and  mental  prototypes  of  the  race. 
Language,  mythology,  religious  dogmas,  the  very  style  of 
architecture,  and  their  calendar,  as  far  as  it  is  developed, 
point  to  that  fruitful  source  of  nationality  and  dispersion." 
(Ibid.) 

In  relation  to  other  points  suggested  by  Maury,  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  the  diffusion  alike  of  men  and  of  the 
lower  animals,  much  information  is  given  by  Lyell.  We 
make  room  for  only  a  single  fact.  "Kotzebue,  when 
investigating  the  coral  isles  of  Radak,  and  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  Caroline  Isles,  became  acquainted  with 
a  person  by  the  name  of  Kadu,  who  was  a  native  of  Ulea, 
an  isle  fifteen  hundred  miles  distant,  from  which  he  had 
been  drifted  with  a  party."  (El.  of  Geol.,  vol.  iii.  p.  92.) 

Such  are  the  paths  along  which  population  has  been 
conducted  to  our  globe's  remotest  extremity.  Thus — 

"  Wise  to  promote  whatever  end  he  means, 
God  opens  fruitful  nature's  various  scenes." 


136  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

And  thus  has  he  conducted  to  every  region  children  of 
Adam,  and  diffused 

"  Soul,  passion,  intellect ;  till  blood  of  man 
Through  every  artery  of  nature  ran ; 
O'er  eastern  islands  poured  its  quickening  stream, 
Caught  the  warm  crimson  of  the  western  beam  ; 
Beneath  the  burning  line  made  fountains  start 
In  the  dry  wilderness  of  Afric's  heart ; 
And  through  the  torpid  north,  with  genial  heat ; 
Taught  love's  exhilarating  pulse  to  beat; 
Till  the  great  sun,  in  his  perennial  round, 
Man,  of  all  climes,  the  restless  native  found." 

This  is  not  merely  poetry;  it  is  sound  philosophy.  And 
it  opens  at  once  the  next  branch  of  evidence  respecting 
the  family  relationship  between  the  most  widely  separated 
tribes  of  men;  that  presented  in  the  mental  phenomena 
and  physical  characteristics  of  every  variety  of  human 
kind. 

On  the  latter  and  lower,  but  in  some  respects  more  ob- 
viously presented  point,  the  most  searching  investigations, 
in  spite  of  all  the  circumstantial  diversities  urged  by  a 
certain  class  of  observers,  have  issued  in  what  amounts  in 
fact  to  a  strict  demonstration  of  human  unity. 

Facts  connected  with  the  phenomena  of  hybridity  ap- 
proach very  closely  this  demonstrative  character.  Ques- 
tions, indeed,  are  raised  respecting  these  phenomena,  and 
assertions  not  a  few  most  energetically  advanced.  But 
facts  will  yield  neither  to  perplexed  speculation  nor  to 
headlong  boldness:  still  less,  can  they  be  expected  to 
submit,  when  the  challenging  parties  are  themselves  at 
issue. 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  137 

Dr.  Yan  Evrie  and  Dr.  Nott,  recent  controversialists  on 
this  subject,  agree  in  maintaining  that  mnlattoes  are  strictly 
hybrids;  but  they  differ  quite  widely  in  regard  to  the 
general  laws  of  nature  respecting  hybrids.  The  latter 
contends  that  in  the  hybridity  which  takes  place  between 
proximate  species,  as  he  holds  varieties  of  men  to  be, 
although  the  earlier  generations  appear  more  delicate,  yet 
" prolificacy  is  unlimited."  (Types,  p.  376.)  The  former 
affirms,  (Essay,  p.  29,)  with  characteristic  but  unverified 
confidence,  "the  mulatto  of  the  fourth  generation  is  as 
sterile  as  the  mule  of  the  first."  These  opposite  state- 
ments, which  it  is  almost  self-evident  neither  of  the  learned 
gentlemen  could  on  his  own  side  substantiate,  they  may  be 
left  to  reconcile;  meanwhile,  the  long-admitted  and  un- 
questionable fact  remains  a  patent  verity,  that  mixed  races 
of  men,  as  the  Griquas  of  South  Africa,  descended  from 
the  Dutch  and  Hottentots;  the  Cafusos  of  Brazil,  and 
similar  mestizoes  elsewhere,  from  negroes  and  Indians ;  the 
Papuans  of  New  Guinea,  etc.,  from  negroes  and  Malayans ; 
and  the  mulattoes  and  Creoles  of  the  West  Indies  and  of 
our  own  country,  not  only  exist  in  great  numbers,  but, 
according  to  wide  observation,  continue,  wherever  circum- 
stances permit,  rapidly  to  multiply.  From  our  last  census 
returns  we  find  that  "the  mulattoes  in  the  United  States, 
numbering,  in  1850,  405,751,  are  about  one-eighth  as 
numerous  as  the  blacks,  and  the  free  mulattoes  are  more 
than  half  the  number  of  free  blacks."  (Census  Kept., 
p.  82.) 

It  is  one  thing  then,  and  may  serve  a  purpose,  to  speak 
12* 


138  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

of  rnulattoes  as  " mules,"  but  it  is  altogether  a  different 
thing  scientifically  to  establish  their  hybridity.  And  even 
if  something  approaching  it  could  be  proved,  it  would  be 
nothing  more  than  might  be  expected,  under  the  wide 
deviation  from  the  white  standard,  so  early  developed  and 
so  long  perpetuated  in  the  negro,  and  would  be  therefore 
no  satisfactory  evidence  of  specific  diversity.  But  real 
hybridity  in  the  case  cannot  be  proved.  The  fact  quoted 
from  our  last  census  is  of  itself  decisive.  But  further : — 

"If  we  search  the  whole  world,"  says  Prichard,  (Xat. 
Hist.,  p.  12,)  "we  shall  probably  not  find  one  instance 
of  an  intermediate  tribe  produced  between  two  distinct 
species,  ascertained  to  be  such." 

"I  cannot  share  the  opinion,"  says  M.  de  Candolle, 
(Essai  Elementaire,  8me  partie,)  "that  between  species 
of  the  same  genera  hybrid  species  may  be  found." 

"I  have  never  yet  seen  a  hybrid  plant,"  says  Mr.  T.  A. 
Knight,  (Observations  on  Hybrids,  p.  253,)  "capable  of 
affording  offspring,  which  has  been  proved,  with  anything 
like  satisfactory  evidence,  to  have  sprung  from  the  origin- 
ally distinct  species." 

"There  is  no  satisfactory  proof,"  says  Lyell,  (Elements 
of  Geology,  vol.  iii.  p.  14,)  "that  a  single  permanent  species 
has  ever  been  produced  by  hybridity." 

And  Professor  Wagner,  of  Germany,  is  said  to  have 
shown  that  the  sterility  of  hybrid  animals  is  generally 
secured  by  an  organic  impediment. 

It  is  plain,  indeed,  that  such  a  law  in  nature  is  needed, 
toward  preserving  the  order  of  the  organized  creation. 


THE   HUMAN    FAMILY.  139 

Since,  in  the  language  of  Prichard,  "if  hybrid  races  were 
produced  and  continued  without  impediment,  the  organ- 
ized world  would  soon  present  a  scene  of  universal  con- 
fusion." 

Facts,  then,  are  all  against  the  notion  of  mixed  races 
among  men  being  hybrids.  They  are  but  intermediate 
varieties.  Physiologically,  man  is  really  proved  to  be  one. 
This  is  the  latest  utterance  of  perhaps  the  master  phys- 
iologist now  living — Professor  Owen.  (Lect.  before  Brit. 
Association  for  Adv.  Science,  Liverpool,  Sept.  1854.) 

"With  regard  to  the  number  of  known  species  of  apes, 
it  is  not  without  interest  to  observe  that,  as  the  generic 
form  of  the  quadrumana  approaches  the  bimanous  order, 
they  are  represented  by  fewer  species.  The  unity  of  the 
human  species  is  demonstrated  by  the  constancy  of  those 
osteological  and  dental  characters  brought  to  view  in 
investigating  the  corresponding  structural  particulars  in 
the  higher  quadrumana.  Man  is  the  sole  species  of  his 
genus,  the  sole  representative  of  his  order,  and,  in  reference 
both  to  the  unity  of  the  human  species  and  to  the  fact  of 
man  being  the  latest  as  he  is  the  highest  of  all  animal 
forms  upon  our  planet,  the  interpretation  of  God's  works 
coincides  with  what  has  been  revealed  to  us,  as  to  our  own 
origin  and  zoological  relation,  in  his  word." 

It  is  not,  therefore,  too  much  to  say,  in  the  words  of 
Professor  Miiller,  "  From  a  physiological  point  of  view,  we 
may  speak  of  varieties  of  man,  but  no  longer  of  races. 
Man  is  a  species,  created  once,  and  divided  into  none  of 
its  varieties  by  specific  distinctions.  In  fact,  the  common 


140  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOE   THE   BIBLE. 

origin  of  the  negro  and  of  the  Greek  admits  not  of  a 
rational  doubt" 

The  mental  phenomena  to  which  we  have  alluded,  if 
furnishing  proof  less  palpable  to  the  senses,  are,  in  their 
specific  correspondences,  when  carefully  examined,  equally 
decisive  of  essential  oneness  in  mankind. 

Vast  as  is  the  interval  between  the  towering  intellectual 
proportions  of  a  Shakspeare,  a  Milton,  a  Bacon,  a  Newton, 
or,  beyond  these,  of  a  Paul,  and  those  of  the  groveling 
creatures  known  as  Esquimaux  or  Fuegans,  Hottentots  or 
Guineans,  there  are  not  only  countless  links  binding  them 
to  the  same  common  kind,  but  certain  great  psychological 
features  making  manifest  their  family  relationship. 

A  ratiocinative  and  logical  faculty  marks  man  wherever 
he  is  found,  and  a  creative  genius  varying  with  circum- 
stances. On  every  soil  and  beneath  every  sky  is  he  char- 
acterized by  the  sense  of  responsibility  which  renders 
government  possible,  and  binds  him  to  the  moral  system 
of  the  universe.  The  outworking,  too,  of  this  element  of 
his  being,  in  some  form  of  religious  belief  and  custom,  is 
coterminous  with  his  diffusion. 

Against  this  it  is  vain  to  urge,  as  indicating  specific 
difference,  the  favorite  allegation  of  diversity  advocates, 
that  the  brain  of  the  Indian,  etc.,  is  comparatively  small, 
and  that  no  instance  can  be  adduced  of  a  negro  who  has 
made  high  attainments  in  literature  or  philosophy. 

Dr.  Morton  himself  teaches,  in  an  extract  already  given, 
that  the  Indian  brain  has,  by  peculiar  habit  of  exercise, 
been  in  some  tribes  considerably  enlarged.  A  fact,  indeed, 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  141 

falling  in  with  the  commonly  observed  tendency  of  all  hu- 
man tissues  to  enlargement,  within  moderate  limits,  through 
a  given  process  of  action.  Size  of  brain,  however,  at  any 
rate,  is  no  final  test  of  mind.  The  quality  of  material 
must  surely  be  quite  as  important  as  its  quantity.  Dr. 
Wyman  testifies  that  other  heads  in  Boston  were  notori- 
ously larger  than  Daniel  Webster's. 

To  demand  instances  of  superior  intellect  among  races 
long  degraded  is,  then,  plainly  unreasonable,  and  amounts 
in  truth  to  a  begging  of  the  question,  by  the  opponents  of 
unity.  Can  they  furnish  such  instances  among  the  forty  or 
fifty  millions  of  native  Sclavonian  serfs  spread  over  the 
vast  plains  of  European  Russia  ? 

Instances  can  certainly  be  adduced,  though  they  are 
rare,  of  pure-blooded  negroes  making  very  considerable 
attainments  in  high  learning.  J.  II.  B.  Latrobe,  Esq.,  of 
Baltimore,  has  described  one  whom  he  knew,  who  became 
a  quite  profound  mathematician.  The  census  returns  also 
exhibit  some  singular  statistics,  as  to  the  education  and 
employment  of  many  negroes,  alike  in  New  Orleans  and 
New  York.  And  the  sound  judgment,  good  feelings,  and 
steady  principle  which  observant  masters  so  often  discover 
in  their  well-trained  servants,  certainly  speak  favorably  of 
their  position  in  the  extended  scale  of  humanity.  Our 
laws  themselves,  moreover,  by  assuming  the  rational  and 
responsible  nature  of  the  negro,  and  regulating  him  by 
such  serious  sanctions,  bear  testimony  incontestible  to  a 
universal  conviction  on  the  subject. 

The  truth  unquestionably  is,  that  while  habit  and  other 


142  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

causes  have  greatly  modified  and  extensively  degraded  the 
one  mental  as  well  as  the  one  bodily  constitution  of  the 
greater  part  of  mankind,  not  only  are  the  lowest  tribes  im- 
provable in  the  latter  respect  as  well  as  in  the  former,  but 
the  mind,  in  its  most  degraded  state,  by  unmistakable 
movements,  vindicates  its  high  connections.  How  strik- 
ingly does  the  emotional  nature  of  man  everywhere  respond 
to  the  stroke  of  grief  or  the  touch  of  delight !  Smiles 
and  tears,  laughter  and  groans,  may  be  witnessed  equally 
in  the  hovel  and  the  palace,  in  the  ice-burrow  of  the  oil- 
fed  Sarnoied  and  the  star-canopied  sand-home  of  the  half- 
starved  Bushman.  And  there  is  something  in  this  single  fact 
more  convincing  than  whole  volumes  of  materialistic  spec- 
ulation. The  great  poet  of  mankind  has  fitly  celebrated, 
in  words  that  can  never  die,  this  instinctive  demonstration 
of  the  heart — 

"One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin." 

To  this  entire  argument  from  nature,  conclusive  as  it  is, 
the  Bible  sets  the  seal  of  revealed  verity.  It  not  only 
affirms,  in  plainest  terms,  that  God  "hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,"  (Acts,  xvii.  26,)  but  it  traces  them  down  from  one 
created  pair,  and  one  preserved  household.  It  not  only 
makes  known,  as  its  supreme,  all-comprehending  disclosure, 
one  "Son  of  man,"  at  once  the  "Second  Adam,"  and  "the 
Lord  from  heaven,"  mysteriously  accomplishing  a  great 
scheme  of  mediation  for  mankind,  but  it  addresses  its  en- 
couragements and  admonitions,  its  precepts  and  promises, 


THE   HUMAN   FAMILY.  113 

with  undiscriminating  benignity,  and,  with  universal  com- 
prehensiveness, commands  them  to  be  conveyed  to  every 
variety  and  every  grade  of  human  creatures — as  constitut- 
ing one  great  brotherhood,  children  of  one  vast  family.  So 
thoroughly,  indeed,  is  the  doctrine  of  one  actual  blood  rela- 
tionship between  all  human  beings  interwoven  with  the  high- 
est announcements  and  most  practical  inculcations  of  revela- 
tion, that  it  must  be  pronounced  impracticable  to  reject  the 
one  and  retain  the  other.  It  certainly  is  not  possible  to 
admit  ordinary  fairness,  far  less  inviolable  veracity,  in  the 
fundamental  lessons  of  Scripture,  and  yet  reject  their  uni- 
form teaching  concerning  the  co-ordinate  relations  of  men. 
toward  each  other,  and  to  their  common  Father  and  one 
Mediator. 

Accordingly,  we  find  the  most  frivolous  air  of  levity,  the 
bitterest  tone  of  mockery,  and  the  fiercest  spirit  of  hos- 
tility directed  against  the  belief  of  anything  supernatural 
in  the  Bible,  associated  with  the  diversity  theory.  At  the 
same  time,  with  strange  inconsistency,  the  attempt  is  made 
to  represent  the  issue,  so  far  as  revelation  is  concerned,  as 
a  mere  question  of  interpretation,  like  those  involved  in 
the  solution  of  astronomical  and  geological  facts,  scrip- 
turally  described  under  their  phenomenal  instead  of  their 
scientific  relations. 

This  alternative  is  prudently  urged  by  some  of  the  more 
considerate  claimants  of  diversity,  and  it  is  even  in  part 
mingled  by  others  with  their  dire  denunciations.  But  it 
cannot  be  admitted.  Man,  his  relations,  his  duties,  his 
prospects,  his  origin,  and  his  destiny,  constitute  the  essen- 


144  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

tial,  the  all-pervading  topic  of  revelation.  And  there  is 
no  interpretation  that  can  change  these  in  the  manner  pro- 
posed, without  rending  to  its  base  the  whole  fabric  and 
scattering  to  the  winds  its  dishonored  fragments. 

In  the  Bible,  as  in  common  parlance,  there  is  no  neces- 
sary connection  between  incidental  mention  of  natural 
events,  according  to  their  appearances,  and  the  scientific 
realities  of  the  case.  JSTot  so,  however,  with  its  account  of 
the  position  and  relations  of  the  human  family.  If  its  his- 
torical, preceptive,  and  spiritual  exhibitions,  on  this  ground 
so  distinctly  conveyed,  be  not  reliable,  it  is  discredited 
throughout.  There  is,  in  fact,  nothing  left  to  credit. 

Could  science  necessitate  such  interpretation,  it  would 
really  prove  Christianity  a  fable,  and  revelation  an  impos- 
ture ;  Bacon  a  dupe,  Newton  a  driveler,  and  the  sober 
judgment  of  the  Christian  world  an  insane  infatuation  or  a 
childish  delusion. " 

Of  all  this,  however,  there'  is,  as  we  have  seen,  happily 
not  the  remotest  possibility.  Science  really  speaks  here,  as 
everywhere,  in  harmony  with  Scripture.  And  truth,  now 
as  heretofore,  is  found  like  its  Author,  One. 


DISCUSSION  III. 
THE   CHRONOLOGY  OF   CREATION. 

THE  era  of  onr  world's  creation  is  a  question,  in  our 
time,  by  the  progress  of  knowledge,  invested  with  an  inter- 
est which  it  has  not  heretofore  possessed.  Geological  sci- 
ence has  now  reached  a  position  from  which  it  claims  to 
pronounce  with  confidence,  respecting  the  prevalent  time- 
interpretations  of  Genesis  i,  that  they  cannot  be  true. 
And  the  enlightened  Christian  student,  at  once  trustful 
toward  genuine  science,  as  the  heaven-lit  lamp  by  whose  ra- 
diance human  reason  is  to  trace  in  nature  the  orderings  of 
an  All-perfect  mind ;  and  reliant  on  Scripture,  as  attested 
divine  revelation,  full  of  all  that  is  most  precious  for  man- 
kind, finds  himself  constrained  to  review  those  interpreta- 
tions. He  remembers  that  the  doctors  of  Salamanca, 
however  much  in  earnest,  were  equally  in  error,  when  they 
urged  their  view  of  certain  expressions  in  the  Bible, 
against  the  geography  of  Columbus;  and  that  vastly 
wide  of  the  truth  was  that  infallible  tribunal,  which  so 
grievously  condemned  the  immortal  old  Tuscan  and  his 
grand  astronomical  discovery,  as  at  war  with  what  they 
pronounced  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  records.  Nor  had 
the  divine  Author  of  the  Holy  Book  committed  it,  he  is 
well  persuaded,  to  a  false  astronomy,  though  the  learned 
Turretin  and  other  Protestant  theologians  could  find  in  such 

13  (145) 


146  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

passages  as  Ecclesiastes,  i.  5,  "The  sun  also  ariseth,  and 
the  sun  goeth  down,"  and  Psalm  xciii.  1,  "  The  world 
also  is  established  that  it  cannot  be  moved,"  what  was  to 
them  complete  disproof  of  the  Copernican  system. 

Of  the  evils  occasioned  by  errors  of  this  kind,  the  con- 
siderate inquirer  is  well  aware.  How  they  prejudice  men 
of  mere  science  against  the  Bible,  and  men  of  exclusive 
piety  against  science ;  and  furnish  the  excuse  of  perplex- 
ity to  the  uninformed  and  indifferent  on  either  side.  To 
guard  against  such  harm,  therefore,  he  deems  a  duty  of 
supreme  importance.  Hence,  in  the  great  question,  now 
pending  between  the  record  of  creation  as  read  from  the 
rocks  and  that  given  in  Genesis,  as  commonly  understood, 
he  regards  it  as  a  serious  -obligation  to  trace,  if  possible, 
the  whole  truth,  that  its  harmony  may  be  discerned,  and 
its  excellence  vindicated.  What,  then,  the  monumental 
masses  beneath  his  feet,  freely  and  fairly  examined,  and 
what  the  inspired  narrative,  thoroughly  studied,  really 
do  teach,  severally  and  unitedly,  respecting  the  antiquity 
of  our  world,  and  the  course  of  its  pre- Adamite  changes, 
becomes  to  him  an  inquiry  of  deep  significancy. 

The  very  nature  and  history  of  the  question  at  once  sat- 
isfy him  that  its  adequate  solution  is  not  to  be  reached  by 
any  superficial  views,  hasty  conclusions,  vague  generaliza- 
tions, or  arrogant  dicta  as  to  the  meaning  of  Scripture, 
or  of  the  rocky  archives  of  the  world.  A  faithful  and 
large  induction  is,  he  well  knows,  the  only  key  that  can 
open  the  secrets  of  the  earth's  primeval  history.  Every- 
thing short  of  this,  therefore,  he  promptly  rejects.  The 


THE    CHRONOLOGY   OF   CREATION.  147 

Scripture  language,  he  also  sees,  must  be  phenomenal,  in 
order  to  be  true  always  and  for  all  men,  since  the  great 
appearances  appeal  to  all  senses  alike,  while  philosophic 
expression  must  vary  with  degree  of  culture ;  yet  so  con- 
structed must  that  language  at  the  same  time  be,  he  can- 
not but  judge,  since  truth  cannot  be  at  war  with  truth,  as 
essentially  to  violate  no  ultimate  disclosure  of  science.  To 
trace  under  the  phenomenal  from  this  deeper  construction, 
so  as  to  find  the  true  meaning,  as  evinced  in  its  being 
every  way  consistent,  is  a  task  not  to  be  performed,  he  is 
sure,  by  an  imperfect,  unfurnished,  or  fanciful  mind.  From 
such  guidance  he  instinctively  turns  in  seeking  the  truth. 
He  sees  the  largest,  freest,  best  furnished  men  mainly 
agreed  respecting  the  rank  and  conclusions  of  geological 
science.  The  Cuviers  and  Brogniarts,  the  Chalmerses  and 
Pye  Smiths,  the  Bucklands  and  Lyells,  the  Sedgwicks  and 
Murchesons,  the  Mantells,  Sillimans,  Agassizes,  and  Hugh 
Millers,  most  of  them  equally  eminent  as  Christians  and  as 
explorers  of  natural  truth.  Individuals  of  less  calibre  and 
attainments,  he  finds,  either  admitting  their  own  ignorance 
while  depreciating  geology,  or  exhibiting  in  extravagant 
schemes  of  reconciliation  between  it  and  assumed  meanings 
of  Scripture,  strange  deficiency  of  knowledge  and  judg- 
ment. To  the  dicta  of  these,  however  positive,  his  mind 
cannot  satisfactorily  yield.  He  is  obliged  to  look  for  some- 
thing more  clearly  and  consistently  adequate.  And  the 
question  recurs  with  redoubled  force,  What  is  true  on  the 
subject  ?  What  is  the  consistent  and  reliable  explanation 
of  the  petrified  and  of  the  inspired  documents  ? 


118  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

The  simple  answer  is,  in  our  judgment,  contained  in  the 
period-day  reading  of  Genesis  i.  We  believe  that  the  six 
periods  (Heb.  Yoms)  of  the  creative  history,  are  really  in- 
tended to  be  read  not  as  "days,"  but  as  "ages."  This 
reading  is,  we  are  satisfied,  beyond  comparison,  most  accord- 
ant with  the  entire  range  of  facts  that  have  been  elicited 
from  the  monumental  records  within  the  earth,  and  with 
the  structure  of  the  sacred  history,  as  well  as  with  striking 
intimations  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible.  Reasons  for  this 
judgment  we  shall  briefly  give,  using,  as  occasion  requires, 
some  of  the  best  authorities  on  both  branches  of  the  argu- 
ment, the  biblical  and  the  scientific. 

The  question  is  not  only  of  grave  importance  as  con- 
nected with  a  supposed  issue  between  the  scientific  and  the 
scriptural  chronology  of  creation,  but  it  is  suggestive  of 
some  very  curious  facts  in  the  history  of  associated  theo- 
logical and  geological  opinion. 

The  rigidly  literal  mode  of  Scripture  interpretation, 
already  referred  to,  by  which  the  grand  ideas  of  Columbus 
and  of  Galileo  were  in  their  day  opposed,  has,  by  not  a 
few,  and  up  to  a  date  quite  recent,  been  insisted  on,  in 
regard  to  geology.  All  animal  forms,  and  their  rock-en- 
tombed remains  or  effigies,  are,  by  this  class  of  judges, 
pertinaciously  referred  to  an  origin  only  a  day  or  two 
ante-dating  that  of  man.  And  our  whole  mundane  system 
is  held,  under  the  same  principles  of  construction,  to  be 
only  of  about  the  age  of  the  human  race;  that  is,  some 
six  thousand  years,  or  a  few  decades  of  centuries  more. 
Here  one  supposition  is,  of  course,  that  multitudes  of  the 


THE    CHRONOLOGY   OF    CREATION.  149 

fossil  forms  were  original  creations.  That  the  rocks  con- 
taining them  were  simply  thus  called  into  being,  by  an 
instantaneous  divine  fiat.  But  a  wild  assumption  of  this 
nature,  without  a  particle  of  support  in  Scripture  or 
reason,  setting  aside  the  whole  observed  order  of  Nature 
and  Providence,  and  frustrating  forever  all  rational  inves- 
tigation, were  now  scarcely  worthy  of  mention.  Seriously 
to  oppose  it  were  like  arguing  against  the  fancies  of  a 
patient  in  delirium.  An  alternative  hypothesis,  on  this 
chronological  plan,  refers  all  the  phenomena  of  strata  and 
fossils  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  deluge,  however  ration- 
ally inexplicable  they  may  be  on  such  grounds,  nay,  by  the 
clearest  induction  absolutely  discrediting  any  such  ex- 
planation. Even  the  learned  Kirby  could  be  so  imbued 
with  the  infatuation  of  this  kind  of  scriptural  application 
as  to  quote  Ps.  xliv.  19,  "Th,ou  hast  sore  broken  us  in  the 
place  of  dragons,  and  covered  us  with  the  shadow  of 
death,"  in  proof  of  the  existence  now,  of  some  subter- 
ranean home  where  multitudes  yet  survive  of  those  mon- 
strous saurians,  specimens  of  which,  in  skeleton,  have  been 
so  abundantly  discovered  in  certain  ancient  formations! 
A  mode  like  this  of  dealing  with  the  dignified  wisdom  of 
recorded  Revelation  is  really  so  unworthy  of  a  sound  and 
reverential  mind,  that  we  cannot  but  experience  in  the 
contemplation  of  it  a  painful  sense  of  human  weakness. 

The  once  favorite  idea  of  this  class  of  constructionists, 
that  all  the  thousand  traces  of  ancient  submergence  under 
water,  observed  all  over  the  globe,  were  to  be  referred 
directly  to  the  deluge,  has  become  at  the  present  day  so 

13* 


150  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

absolutely  untenable  in  the  light  of  abundant  facts,  as  to 
be  given  up,  we  believe,  on  all  hands.  But  a  modified 
form  of  the  theory  is  still  held,  the  deluge  being  sup- 
posed indirectly  to  explain  the  facts  of  geology.  The 
hypothesis  is,  that  between  the  dates  of  creation  and  of 
the  flood,  vast  accumulations  of  sediment  were  borne  from 
time  to  time  by  streams  and  inundations,  from  the  land 
into  the  sea;  and  that  the  upheaval  of  all  this,  at  the 
time  of  the  deluge,  and  the  corresponding  subsidence  of 
what  had  been  the  land,  buried  all  that  had  previously 
been  occupied  by  terrestrial  creatures,  and  provided,  as 
their  home  from  that  date,  the  variously  compounded  sur- 
face over  which  the  antediluvian  sea  had  rolled.  But  this 
indirect  diluvial  hypothesis,  though  in  some  respects  more 
plausible  than  that  once  prevalent,  which  supposed  the 
mere  passage  of  the  Noachian  waters  over  the  continents 
to  have  left  all  the  aqueous  traces  noticed  by  geologists,  is 
in  fact  not  more  credible,  in  the  light  of  modern  discovery; 
while  it  is  directly  at  war  with  certain  historical  details  of 
the  Scripture  itself.  In  Genesis  ii.  10-14,  we  read  of  the 
rivers  which  watered  Eden.  And  the  continued  existence 
of  two  at  least  of  them,  the  Hiddekel  or  Tigris,  and  the 
Euphrates,  to  this  day,  fully  disproves  the  imagined  sub- 
sidence of  that  part  of  the  earth.  Geological  facts,  which 
we  shall  incidentally  exhibit,  will  be  found  even  more 
thoroughly  to  discredit  this  theory. 

Here,  however,  we  meet  a  prejudice  by  which  good 
and  otherwise  well-informed  men  are,  on  this  subject,  alto- 
gether blinded.  Without  having  fairly  examined  the  case, 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.         151 

they  insist  that  what  is  claimed  for  geology  as  a  science 
cannot  be  admitted.  That  it  is  merely  a  crude  mass  of 
speculations,  and  not  a  coherent  system  of  results,  carefully 
reached  by  a  large  induction  of  facts.  "We  deny  their 
facts,"  say  these  opponents  of  the  scientific  geologists. 
"Grant  them  their  facts,  and  of  course  they  will  make 
good  their  theory."  Grant  them  their  facts!  A  con- 
cession, truly,  from  persons  who  almost  boast  that  they 
know  little  or  nothing  of  the  subject!  Deny  their  facts, 
indeed!  The  blind  obstinately  persisting  to  all  around 
them,  "  we  believe  nothing  you  allege  about  the  sun.  No 
doubt  if  we  admit  your  facts,  you  can  make  good  your 
solar  theory."  Something  requiring  a  much  stronger 
characteristic  designation  than  "unreasonableness,"  is  evi- 
dent here.  How  quickly  would  these  worthy  but  prejudiced 
deniers  of  authenticated  truth  perceive,  and  how  deeply 
feel,  the  weakness  and  unworthiuess  of  a  course  the  counter- 
part of  their  own,  though  in  relations  more  solemn,  were 
unbelievers  to  reply  to  their  Christian  appeals,  "we  deny 
your  facts,"  and  then  refuse  candidly  to  examine  the 
evidences  by  which  they  are  authenticated ! 

Even,  then,  if  none  of  the  more  important  geological 
facts  were  patent  to  our  own  eyes,  if  we  were  simply 
dependent  upon  the  testimony  of  such  men  as  Lyell,  and 
Humboldt,  and  Miller,  as  to  the  particulars  traced  by 
themselves  in  the  strata  of  the  earth,— just  as  the  vast 
majority  of  even  the  cultivated  are  dependent  on  the 
Keplers  and  Herschels  for  the  details  of  astronomic  ob- 
servations,— it  were  most  unreasonable,  and  at  variance  with 


152  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

all  the  sound  principles  of  evidence  for  which  we  in  other 
things  contend,  for  us  to  talk  about  denying  their  facts. 
Cautious  and  sagacious  men,  whose  well-disciplined  facul- 
ties have  through  long  years  been  devoted  to  a  minute, 
methodical,  and  extensive  examination  of  the  soils  and 
rocks,  caves  and  cliffs,  mines  and  mountains,  yet  explored 
on  the  globe,  may  surely  be  believed  capable  of  describing 
what  they  have  discovered,  and  what  they  really  know  in 
the  case.  And  when  we  are  certain  that,  whatever  their 
scientific  enthusiasm,  they  have,  for  the  most  part,  no  con- 
ceivable motive  for  misrepresenting  appearances  or  per- 
verting truth,  it  would  really  seem  something  worse  than 
folly  to  say,  "we  deny  your  facts." 

But,  as  in  the  case  of  controlling  truths  of  astronomy, 
which  are  sufficiently  obvious  to  all  intelligent  and  ob- 
servant minds  to  furnish  a  basis  of  undoubting  confidence 
in  the  testimony,  borne  by  accomplished  explorers  of  the 
heavens,  concerning  the  wonderful  results  they  have  veri- 
fied,— so  facts,  the  most  striking  and  convincing,  in  the 
structure  of  our  earth's  crust,  are  so  commonly  noticeable, 
as  not  only  to  claim  the  attention  of  all  reasonable  men, 
but  to  furnish  a  secure  basis  for  proper  reliance  upon  the 
achievements  of  able  and  faithful  investigations  in  this 
department  of  research. 

The  truth  is,  almost  every  man  may  discover  for  him- 
self, alike  in  great  utterances  of  the  Bible,  and  in  strange 
tokens  everywhere  presented  by  the  earth's  strata,  much 
more  than  enough  to  discredit  every  form  of  the  six-thou- 
sand-year hypothesis.  And  this  is  one  of  the  instances  in 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.         153 

which  liberal  inquiry  has  done  essential  service  to  the  one 
cause  of  truth,  by  manifesting  the  grand  harmonies  be- 
tween Nature  and  Revelation. 

The  Bible,  in  not  a  few  passages,  indicates,  as  im- 
pressively as  do  the  monumental  rocks  themselves,  that  the 
earth  is  incalculably  older  than  the  human  race.  In  Psalm 
xc.,  entitled  in  our  version,  "a  Prayer  of  Moses,  the  man 
of  God,"  we  read:  "Before  the  mountains  were  brought 
forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world, 
even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God."  Here 
the  inspired  writer,  laboring  apparently  with  the  idea  of 
boundless  past  duration,  expressed  by  the  phrase  "from 
everlasting  to  everlasting,"  introduces,  as  an  aid  to  the 
mighty  conception,  the  period  since  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth  and  the  earth  and  the  world  were  formed. 
Its  very  introduction,  by  way  of  comparison,  for  such  a 
purpose,  conveys,  perhaps  more  strikingly  than  any  form 
of  statement  could  have  done,  his  own  impression  of  the 
immensity  of  that  period.  Still  more  significant,  if  pos- 
sible, to  the  same  effect,  is  the  remarkable  personal  address 
of  "Wisdom,"  in  Prov.  viii.  22-30:  "The  Lord  possessed 
me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way,  before  his  works  of  old. 
I  was  set  up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning,  or  ever 
the  earth  was.  When  there  were  no  depths  I  was  brought 
forth ;  when  there  were  no  fountains  abounding  with  water. 
Before  the  mountains  were  settled,  before  the  hills,  was  I 
brought  forth;  while  as  yet  he  had  not  made  the  earth, 
nor  the  fields,  nor  the  highest  part  of  the  dust  of  the  world.' 
When  he  prepared  the  heavens,  I  was  there ;  when  he  set 


154  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS    FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

a  compass  upon  the  face  of  the  depth;  when  he  established 
the  clouds  above;  when  he  strengthened  the  fountains  of 
the  deep ;  when  he  gave  the  sea  his  decree,  that  the  waters 
should  not  pass  his  commandment ;  when  he  appointed  the 
foundations  of  the  earth ;  then  I  was  by  him,  as  one  brought 
up  with  him."  Here  the  highest  descriptive  power  seems 
taxed  to  the  utmost  in  carrying  the  mind  back  toward  the 
era  of  the  going  forth  of  creative  wisdom.  And  the  period 
since  our  planet  was  called  into  being  is  again  employed, 
as,  by  its  vastness,  the  only  fit  term  of  comparison  in  such 
an  estimate. 

Intimations  like  these  are  not  rare,  and  they  seem  to 
render  altogether  insignificant,  under  the  mere  aspect  of 
extent,  the  past  term  of  human  existence,  in  the  great 
chronology  of  creation. 

On  that  vast  chronological  scale  there  are,  as  we  have 
intimated,  natural  marks  even  more  specific  and  not  less 
impressive.  So  various  are  the  aspects  in  which  these 
may  be  exhibited,  that  the  chief  difficulty  in  offering 
them  to  view,  within  a  moderate  space,  is  so  to  group 
them  as  that  some  adequate  effect  on  the  mind  may  be 
produced.  We  select,  however,  a  mode  suggested  by  ob- 
jects that  meet  the  eye  at  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots 
on  the  globe. 

The  intelligent  observer  who  is  permitted  to  feast  his 
higher  being  on  the  grand  scenes  of  Xiagara,  finds  his 
mind  wondrously  impressed,  and  borne  on  to  great 
thoughts,  by  the  sublimities  of  time  no  less  than  by  those 
of  dimension  and  of  power.  He  cannot,  indeed,  address 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.          155 

the  mighty  torrent,  in  words  so  beautifully  applied  to  the 
hoary  ocean  it  hastens  to  meet : — 

"  Time  writes  no  wrinkle  on  thine  azure  brow ; 
Such  as  Creation's  dawn  beheld,  thou  rollest  now ;" 

for  time  has  furrowed  there  a  thousand  seams.  But  the 
very  marks  so  indelibly  registered  speak  of  ages  rolled 
away,  no  less  surely  than  does  the  tracery  beneath  whitened 
locks  reveal  the  ravages  of  threescore  years  and  ten. 

There  is  the  yawning  chasm,  in  rock  exceedingly  hard, 
hundreds  of  feet  in  depth,  and  extending  in  length  not  less 
than  eight  miles;  and  there  are  the  recent  ruins  of  the 
slowly-receding  wall,  which  tell  of  the  process  by  which 
the  enormous  scooping  has  been  effected.  And  when  the 
agency  and  its  observed  results  are  compared  with  the 
total  achievement,  the  period  for  such  wear  and  tear  is 
found  really  to  baffle  calculation. 

But  there  are,  at  this  instructive  spot,  traces  of  a  chro- 
nology that  was  already  inconceivably  old  when  the  bosom 
of  Erie  was  laid  bare,  and  the  waters  of  that  emerald  cur- 
rent began  to  cut  a  passage  through  the  limestone.  The 
attentive  visitor  finds  imbedded  in  that  rock  numberless 
effigies  of  creatures  that  once  tenanted  the  waters  of  a  free 
ocean  ;  beings  that  in  their  time,  longer  or  shorter,  passed 
through  the  various  stages  of  sentient  existence  which  we 
observe  to  characterize  animated  forms.  And  their  fossils, 
thus  brought  to  light,  tell  the  simple  story  of  ancient 
vicissitude,  and  unregistered  ages.  They  make  known,  not 
only  the  extended  lifetime  of  such  creatures,  but  the 
gradual  advance  of  calcareous  deposit  in  which  those 


156  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

denizens  of  the  deep  were  entangled  and  entombed,  at  all 
depths,  through  a  range  of  more  than  hundreds  of  feet. 
They  speak  of  the  enormous  pressure  which  could  convert 
so  immense  an  accumulation  of  mud  into  rock  of  hardest 
texture.  And  then,  their  elevation  to  the  light  of  day, 
and  their  final  exhibition  to  human  eyes,  tell  of  those  un- 
known times  of  internal  throe  and  progressive  upheaval, 
which  eventuated  in  rolling  elsewhere  the  briny  waves,  for 
other  service,  and  establishing  the  conditions  under  which 
lake  and  cataract  have  been  since  performing  their  part  in 
the  magnificent  phenomena  of  nature. 

But  immensely  distant  as  is  the  past  age  to  which  these 
facts  and  these  inductions  have  borne  the  thoughtful  ob- 
server, he  is  not  permitted  to  stop  there.  Tokens  are  at 
hand,  apart  from  the  special  character  of  the  stone,  and 
supposing  it  of  a  kind  elsewhere  prodigiously  developed  in 
connection  with  such  indications,  of  an  earlier  and  pro- 
tracted period,  claiming  his  attention.  Issuing  with  the 
jet  of  a  cool  and  gentle  stream  from  a  fissure  in  the  rock, 
near  the  margin  of  the  Canadian  bank,  and  on  its  upper 
reach,  he  finds  a  ceaseless  current  of  inflammable  gas,  pre- 
cisely analogous  to  that  which  modern  skill  has  educed  from 
coal  and  bitumen  for  the  illumination  of  our  cities.  Fol- 
lowing, then,  this  current  of  combustible  air,  as  Theseus  the 
thread  of  Ariadne,  he  treads  securely  the  hidden  pathway 
along  which  that  subtle  fluid  has  traveled,  till,  far  beneath 
the  tombs  of  ages,  over  which  the  mighty  waterfall  forever 
reverberates,  he  enters  a  world  of  wonders,  incalculably 
more  ancient  than  all  he  has  left  behind.  Here  is  before 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   CREATION.  15T 

him  one  of  the  vast  storehouses  in  which  compact  fuel  for 
unborn  generations  has,  for  countless  centuries,  been  piled 
away,  in  masses  well-nigh  immeasurable.  And  these 
masses  bear  a  registry  of  events  that  transpired  long  before 
depths  were  opened  there  for  the  ocean,  in  which  those  crea- 
tures were  born,  lived,  died,  and  were  put  away  in  marble, 
whose  history  tells  so  much  of  the  ages  that  preceded  the 
beginning  of  the  cataract's  evasive  power.  Here  he  reads 
of  a  vegetation  that,  at  an  epoch  fancy  herself  reaches  only 
on  tired  wing,  burdened  the  warm  and  steaming  earth, — a 
vegetation  characterized  by  gigantic  proportions  and  ex- 
haustless  abundance,  such  as  no  soil  or  climate  belonging 
to  these  later  times,  not  even  the  nutritive  alluvium  of  the 
Amazon  under  the  stimulating  blaze  of  an  equatorial  sun, 
can  parallel.  Here  he  finds  recorded  notices,  not  only 
of  the  foundation  of  fertile  land  already  provided  for 
the  matted  roots  of  great  tree-ferns  and  greater  forest- 
pines,  and  of  the  heated,  misty  air  that  ministered  to  their 
luxuriance,  but  also  of  the  flood-seasons,  which  tore  these 
mighty  growths  from  their  stations,  and  bore  them  onward 
to  some  great  estuary,  and  laid  them  there  in  vast  heaps, 
to  be  heavily  covered,  in  the  progress  of  centuries,  by  sedi- 
ment derived  from  adjacent  shores,  and  thus  be  preserved 
under  conditions  preventive  of  wasteful  decomposition,  but 
admitting  such  change  of  elements  as  might,  in  an  ex- 
tended period,  convert  fibrous  into  <?w<m-mineral  fuel. 
The  same  registry  sketches  for  him  an  outline  of  other 
events,  succeeding  these  in  series  that  years  cannot  meas- 
ure, ere  yet  preparation  was  made  for  that  sea  in  which 

14 


158  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

the  great  formation  was  deposited  which  now  constitutes 
the  bed  and  barrier  of  the  splendid  cascade ;  movements 
in  the  frame-work  of  the  globe,  convulsive  perhaps,  like 
those  which  yet  at  times  cause  a  continent  to  tremble ;  or 
gradual,  like  those  which  are  in  our  day  slowly  but  surely 
lifting  the  coast  of  Norway  and  depressing  that  of  Green- 
land; alternate  heavings  and  sinkings,  as  it  were,  of  the 
bosom  of  our  "Alma  Mater;"  beatings  of  her  vital  pulse; 
throbbings  of  her  mighty  heart.  Thus  at  length  the  great 
sea-cavity  is  adjusted,  above  the  storehouse  of  future 
flame,  where  may  settle  the  wafer-layers  of  that  calcareous 
paste,  which  after-generations  of  an  uncounted  age  look 
upon  as  enormous  piles  of  imperishable  rock. 

Thus  do  the  stupendous  gorge,  the  mighty  masses  of 
fossil-marked  stone,  and  the  carbureted  exhalation  of  "the 
burning  spring,"  to  one  but  moderately  acquainted  with 
the  authenticated  and  generalized  facts  of  geology,  and 
visiting  this  unrivaled  locality,  speak,  with  a  distinctness 
that  can  scarcely  be  mistaken,  of  the  long  ages  registered 
in  the  carboniferous  formation,  and  of  those  succeeding 
periods  of  animated  tribes,  sedimentary  deposit,  petrifying 
process,  subsequent  upheaval,  and  prolonged  erosion,  evi- 
dences of  which,  in  other  places,  have  been  so  often  traced 
by  sagacious  observers.* 


*  In  principle  this  time-argument  is  strictly  true.  In  fact  it  is 
true  only  by  accommodation.  The  Niagara  rock  belongs  not,  as 
supposed  in  our  illustration,  and  as  for  any  known  physical  reason 
to  the  contrary  it  might  have  done,  to  a  formation  above,  and 
newer  than  the  great  coal  deposits,  but  to  a  member  of  the  lower 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OP  CREATION.         159 

That  the  conclusions  thus  grouped  may  be  seen  to  be 
altogether  different  from  fanciful  speculations,  some  of  the 
evidences  substantiating  the  main  points  may  be  briefly 
brought  to  notice. 

Great  grooves,  channeled,  like  the  lower  Niagara  bed, 
in  hardest  rock,  may  be  seen  marking  some  part  of  the 
course  of  almost  all  large  rivers.  And  the  ruins  thus  ap- 
propriated by  the  waters,  and  borne  onward  in  their  flow, 
are  found,  in  many  cases,  to  be  gradually  packed  away  in 
alluvial  accumulations,  of  which  the  deltas  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, the  Ganges,  and  the  Nile  are  well-known  instances. 
Now,  of  these  accumulations,  there  are  some  tokens  that, 
in  a  general  way,  mark  the  rate  of  increase.  Such  are 
certain  fixed  objects,  connected  with  the  outlet  of  the 
Egyptian  stream,  to  which  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
condition  of  the  delta  may  be  referred.  The  whole  term 
of  these  deposits  is,  by  such  criteria,  found  to  reach  very 
far  back  of  our  historical  period. 

But  above  the  river  beds  lie  terraces  of  diversified  con- 
figuration, composed  of  those  outspread  heaps  of  soil,  sand, 
clay,  and  gravel,  that  so  generally  constitute  the  terrestrial 
surface  on  which  we  tread,  and  which,  when  laid  open  by 
some  natural  or  artificial  cut,  we  find  for  the  most  part  to 
consist  of  adjusted  layers,  evidently  deposited  in  succession, 
at  a  remote  date,  from  water  in  which,  from  time  to  time, 
they  were  borne.  This  general  process  was  manifestly  long 

and  older  vast  Silurian  system.  So  that  the  carbureted  gas 
there  appearing  must,  in  all  likelihood,  be  referred  to  some  very 
partial  and  exceptional  store  of  bituminous  matter. 


160  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

anterior  to  that  of  the  river  alluvium.  Its  greatly  higher 
antiquity  is  indicated,  not  only  by  all  the  circumstances  of 
position,  but  by  the  enormous  extent  of  the  beds,  as  ascer- 
tained, in  some  cases,  by  boring  and  by  the  evidence  which 
the  pebbles  furnish  of  prolonged  attrition  previous  to 
burial.  Already,  then,  we  are  here  conducted,  probably, 
far  beyond  the  human  era.  (See  in  the  "Smithsonian  Con- 
tribution^ to  Knowledge,"  vol.  ix.,  1857,  an  important 
paper,  by  Professor  Hitchcock,  on  "Surface  Geology.") 

Now,  however,  additional  marks  of  age  claim  atten- 
tion. Indurated  strata,  marked  by  perfectly  definite  and 
characteristic  peculiarities,  present  themselves  to  notice. 
They  are  found  everywhere  to  constitute  a  vast  frame- 
work of  variously-textured  rock,  sometimes  underlying 
plains,  sometimes  swelling  into  hills,  sometimes  piled  in 
huge  mountain-ridges,  or  shooting  up  into  towering  pin- 
nacles. This  rocky  frame  of  our  world  has  also  been, 
by  nature  and  art,  in  many  places  exposed  to  observa- 
tion. And  it  is  proved  to  consist,  not  of  one  jumbled 
mass,  but  of  very  distinct  layers  or  beds  of  different  kinds, 
and  sometimes  of  immense  thickness,  lying  one  above 
another,  in  a  regular  order,  ascertained  to  be  mainly  the 
same  all  over  the  globe,  and  reaching  down  to  prodigious 
depths.  In  no  one  place,  it  is  true,  have  many  of  these 
layers  been  exposed  to  view  at  once.  Nor  has  any  natural 
chasm  or  artificial  cut  penetrated  at  all  near  the  depth  to 
which  these  strata  may,  by  other  means,  be  traced.  And  yet, 
tilted  up  as  the  strata  are,  by  violent  heavings  from  within, 
especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  mountains,  one  may  be 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   CREATION.  161 

seen  showing  itself  at  a  considerable  distance  behind  and 
under  another,  as,  in  a  pile  of  books,  one  may  rest  on 


another.  And  although  a,  b,  c,  and  d  may  not  be  all  seen 
at  one  view,  yet  c  being  found  to  rest  on  d,  whenever  they 
occur  together,  6  on  c,  and  a  on  b,  the  actual  order  of  the 
whole  is  known. 

By  a  great  number  of  observations,  over  a  vast  extent 
of  the  earth,  the  relations  of  upper  and  lower  strata  have 
thus  been  ascertained,  and  designated  in  about  this  order 
downward:  1,  Alluvium  and  diluvium  or  drift;  2,  ter- 
tiary series,  a  partially  indurated  system  reaching  down  as 
low  as  the  chalk ;  3,  secondary,  from  the  chalk,  through 
the  oolite,  to  the  new  red  sandstone ;  4,  paleozoic,  from 
the  coal-beds  to  the  slates.  And  while  the  uppermost 
layers  of  rock  give  tokens  of  an  antiquity  greatly  exceed- 
ing that  of  the  unindurated  beds  overlying  them,  those 
that  are  lower  furnish  abundant  evidences  of  still  greater 
age,  in  proportion  as  they  are  farther  down. 

Although  no  human  search  has  yet  reached  into  the 
earth  half  a  mile  below  the  surface  of  the  sea,  yet  these 
various  rocky  formations  may  be  traced,  by  methods  well- 
nigh  as  reliable  as  those  of  astronomy,  to  their  profoundest 
depths.  London,  for  example,  rests  on  a  great  bed  of  clay, 
belonging  to  the  class  of  accumulations  designated  the 

4* 


162 


SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 


tertiary  system;  but,  underlying  that  clay  is  found,  by 
repeated  borings,  at  depths  from  200  to  600  feet,  the 
remarkable  chalk  concretion  which,  at  certain  points  on 
the  north  and  west  of  the  great  metropolis,  appears  at  the 
surface,  and  again  on  the  south  rises  into  the  Surrey  hills. 
Xo\v,  supposing  the  dip  of  the  chalk  strata  to  be  accu- 
rately ascertained  at  both  the  northern  and  southern  points 
of  emergence,  and  the  distance  between  these  points  to  be 
known,  it  is  obvious  that  data  will  be  possessed  for  calcu- 
lating, with  trustworthy  precision,  the  greatest  depression 
of  the  chalk  basin.  It  is  a  case  of  simple  trigonometry. 


The  distance  a  b  being  known,  and  the  angles  of  depres- 
sion at  a  and  b,  to  find  c  d.  It  will  also  be  seen,  from  this 
example,  not  only  how  the  continuity  of  a  formation  is 
proved  by  its  reappearance,  but  how  a  measurement  of  its 
edge  b  e,  at  the  surface,  is  an  approximate  criterion  of  its 
lowest  thickness  d  f.  The  thickness  of  the  chalk  is,  by 
such  process,  as  well  as  by  measurements  in  some  cases 
more  direct,  found  to  be  about  1000  feet. 

Estimates  of  this  kind  may  be,  and  have  been,  applied  to 
the  vast  oolitic  and  liassic  formation  found  to  underlie  the 
chalk  in  the  London  basin ;  and  equally  well  to  the  saliferous 
or  later  red  sandstone  strata,  on  which  the  lias  rests,  and  to 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION. 


163 


the  great  coal  deposits  below  the  saliferous  sandstone.  Of 
these  last,  says  Baron  Humboldt,  (Kosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  158,)  "  I 
have  found,  after  repeated  examinations,  that  the  lowest  coal- 
stratum  which  is  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Puttweiler,  near 
Bettingen,  northeast  of  Saarlouis,  must  descend  to  depths 
of  20,000  to  22,000  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea."  Un- 
der the  coal  lies  the  old  red  sandstone.  And  beneath  that 
the  great  Silurian  limestone  beds,  lower  than  which  again 
are  the  slates  and  gneiss.  Last  of  all,  the  original  granite 
is  reached,  at  a  total  depth  of  perhaps  as  far  below  the 
lowest  coal,  as  that  is  beneath  the  surface.  Thus  the 
strata  may  be  measured  to  a  depth  of  from  eight  to  ten 
miles.  And  gradually  formed,  as  they  obviously  were, 
who  shall  measure  the  enormous  periods  employed  in  their 
production  ? 

A  general  idea  of  the  whole  may  be  gotten  from  a  sim- 
ple diagram. 


Tertiary 


Besides  the  unraeasurable  ages  indicated  for  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  whole  series  of  sedimentary  strata,  there  is  that 
known  in  connection  with  the  granite  itself  and  its  asso- 


164  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS    FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

elated  so-called  plutonic  rocks,  which  carries  the  mind 
even  farther  toward  the  trackless  past.  Repeated  borings 
into  the  earth,  to  from  500  to  2000  feet,  reveal  the  fact, 
that  there  is  a  rise  of  temperature  within,  at  the  rate  of 
about  1°  Fah.,  for  every  54  feet  of  perpendicular  descent. 
(Kosmos,  iv.  p.  113.)  Eight  miles  down,  then,  a  glowing 
heat  must  exist.  This  indication  falls  in  with  several  other 
important  facts.  First,  the  oblateness  of  the  earth  —  its 
polar  compression  and  equatorial  protrusion — proving 
that,  at  some  age,  it  must  have  been  in  a  fluid  condition, 
susceptible  of  receiving  form  under  the  operation  of  cen- 
trifugal force;  second,  its  moderate  aggregate  density — 
ascertained  by  carefully  observing  its  attractive  power 
in  comparison  with  that  of  mountain  masses,  etc. — only 
about  five  and  a  half  times  that  of  water,  (ibid.,  p.  32,) 
indicating  some  internal  repulsive  energy  counteracting 
the  immense  condensation  which,  otherwise,  gravity  would 
seem  to  necessitate;  and  third,  the  circumstance  that  the 
scoriae  from  furnaces,  and  similar  products  furnished  by 
chemists,  as  the  result  of  fusion,  often  exhibit  the  very 
minerals  which  compose  the  original  rocks.  Such  facts, 
together  with  the  peculiar  crystalline  structure  of  the  gran- 
itic mass,  enforce  the  conclusion,  that  that  universally  un- 
derlying support  of  all  other  rocks,  is,  itself,  but  the  slowly 
cooled  crust  of  a  once  molten  world.  Immense,  indeed, 
under  existing  laws  of  heat,  must  have  been  the  time  em- 
ployed in  such  reduction  of  temperature. 

Thus,  by  a  regular  but  general  and  simple  series  of  in- 
ductions, are  we  carried  irresistibly  backward,  from  the 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   CREATION.  165 

order  of  things  now  existing,  through  vast  periods  of 
formative  change  in  the  earth,  to  that  unknown  date,  too 
remote  for  the  most  adventurous  surmise,  when  all  was 
"without  form  and  void." 

Another  class  of  facts,  however,  now  comes  into  view, 
connected  with  this  course  of  inquiry  into  the  time-records 
of  the  rocks,  and  furnishing  the  most  reliable  relative 
chronometry  for  those  ante-human  ages,  that  embracing 
the  entire  series  of  discovered  fossils.  These  relics  of  the 
past  are  witnesses  which,  after  the  most  searching  cross- 
questioning,  furnish  one,  consistent,  unequivocal  testimony, 
to  the  occurrence  of  successive  orders  of  beings,  in  periodic 
course,  with  marked  diversities  gradually  introduced,  one 
after  another,  through  prolonged  intervals  and  ages. 

Descending  from  the  surface  through  such  comparatively 
recent  debris-beds,  as  those  of  the  London  clay,  the  geol- 
ogist finds  animal  forms  gradually  changing,  from  those  of 
existing  species,  into  new  and  strange  varieties;  and  by 
the  time  he  has  reached  the  chalk,  nearly  the  whole  organ- 
ized system  with  which  he  started  has  been  left  behind. 
To  express  this  class  of  facts,  in  the  super- cretaceous  beds, 
now  referred  to,  known  as  the  tertiary  system,  from  its 
order  in  the  grand  ages  of  life,  classifying  Greek  designa- 
tions adapted  to  certain  general  proportions  of  displaced 
forms,  have  been  proposed,  and  adopted  into  scientific 
nomenclature.  They  are  pleiocene  more  recent,  meiocene 
less  recent,  and  eocene  the  dawn  of  recent  life ;  these  divi- 
sions, however,  being  carefully  distinguished  from  any  deposit 
of  the  human  period.  For,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  next  dis- 


166  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

cussion,  they  have  been  satisfactorily  proved  to  contain 
no  traces  of  simultaneous  human  existence.  It  is  in  the 
pleiocene,  or  upper  division  of  the  tertiary  system,  that, 
with  instances  of  mammalian  species  belonging  to  the 
present  time,  we  find  so  abundantly  remains  of  the  mas- 
todon and  elephant,  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus,  ox, 
horse,  and  deer,  which,  though  specifically  different  from, 
are  generically  akin  to  families  of  our  own  time.  In  the 
mewcene  portion  of  the  tertiary  formation,  among  forms 
more  distinctly  separated  from  the  mammalia  coexisting 
with  mankind,  occurs  the  great  dinotherium,  or  gigantic 
tapir  of  Cuvier,  exceeding  in  size  the  largest  fossil  elephant. 
And  in  the  lowest  or  eocene  section  of  the  tertiary  de- 
posits, with  other  creatures  diverse  from  any  found  in  the 
higher  divisions,  are  discovered  those  strange,  thick-skinned 
pioneers  of  the  tapir,  elephant,  rhinoceros,  and  horse  fami- 
lies, specimens  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  best  museums, 
labeled  with  such  names  as  "  Palaotherium,"  and  "Ano- 
plotherium." 

Xow,  when  the  gradual  and  successive  changes  in  the 
order  of  animal  life,  thus  brought  to  view,  are  considered 
in  connection  with  the  prodigious  extent  of  the  system 
through  which  the  progression  is  witnessed ;  and  when  the 
whole  is  compared  with  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  per- 
manence in  the  species  around  us,  we  are,  by  our  mental 
constitution,  compelled  to  assign  to  the  tertiary  period  a 
duration  to  which  we  dare  affix  no  definite  numbers. 
Who,  then,  shall  measure  the  antecedent  term  of  the  great 
secondary  period  of  life  ?  Here,  first,  we  see  a  powder, 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OP  CREATION.         167 

worn  down  from  coralline  structures,  and  deposited  in 
paste,  imbedding  its  own  curious  memorials  of  life  and 
change,  built  up  into  those  enormous  heaps  of  chalk, 
which,  when  afterwards  upheaved,  and  in  due  time  looked 
upon  by  intelligent  human  eyes,  supply  to  Albion  her 
classic  name.  Next,  we  here  behold  the  still  earlier  oolite, 
in  masses  even  more  extensive,  bearing  in  its  deep  recesses 
the  tombs  of  those  amphibious  monsters,  whale-lizards, 
and  serpent-lizards,  and  bird-lizards,  from  twenty  to  seventy 
feet  in  length,  that  tenanted  indifferently  marshy  shore  or 
mighty  wave,  and  multiplied,  and  fulfilled  their  cycle  of 
existence,  and  found  protecting  graves,  during  the  period 
of  this  vast  accumulation.  And  here,  in  the  yet  more 
ancient,  though  not  most  ancient,  and  therefore  called 
new  red  sandstone,  the  great  salt-bearing  deposit  of  the 
world,  we  meet  with  those  footprints  of  great  birds,  and 
of  frogs  rivaling  our  ox  in  size,  which  reveal  some  of  the 
strange  secrets  of  that  ancient  time. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  that  great  paleozoic,  or 
primary  life-period,  to  which  belong  the  coal-measures, 
the  old  red  sandstone,  and  the  Silurian  limestones?  Of 
the  first  of  these,  the  coal  formation,  it  may  here  suffice 
simply  to  mention  in  proof  of  its  prodigious  extent,  and 
of  the  term  its  preparation  required,  the  incalculable  bene- 
fits which,  as  mighty  reservoirs  of  comfort  and  power,  they 
are  conferring,  and  are  destined  yet  more  abundantly  to 
confer,  upon  mankind.  Of  the  second,  the  old  red-sand- 
stone system,  the  most  thoroughly  informed  observer  and 
most  competent  judge,  (Hugh  Miller,  in  his  "Old  Red 


168  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

Sandstone,")  testifies:  "There  are  localities  in  which  the 
thickness  of  the  old  red  sandstone  fully  equals  the  eleva- 
tion of  Mount  JEtna  above  the  sea,  (over  ten  thousand 
feet,)  and  in  which  it  contains  three  distinct  groups  of 
organic  remains,  the  one  rising  in  beautiful  progression 
above  the  other."  And  of  the  last  member  of  this 
old  life  division,  the  Silurian  series,  Murchison,  its  most 
reliable  explorer,  estimates  the  extent  and  age-tokens  as 
existing  on  no  smaller  scale. 

Anterior,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  to  all  this  incipiency, 
progress,  and  endless  change  of  life,  must  be  reckoned  an 
unknown  but  vastly  extended  lifeless  age,  a  period  of  ad- 
justment in  the  frame- work  of  the  globe,  indicated,  accord- 
ing to  Humboldt  and  others,  by  the  evidences  of  internal 
heat  yet  existing,  and  by  the  phenomena  of  crystallization, 
which  the  lowest  and  infossiliferous  rocks  always  exhibit. 

When  all  these  inductions  are  combined,  we  have  a 
series  of  ages  of  which  our  measures  of  duration  furnish 
no  standard. 

This  series  of  ages  is  so  well  described  by  the  profound 
and  distinguished  Dr.  Harris,  in  his  "Pre-Adamite  Earth," 
that  we  feel  justified  in  giving  the  passage  in  full,  by  way 
of  recapitulating  the  view  we  have  presented.  He  says, 
p.  70,  etc.: — 

"Knowing  about  the  date  of  man's  introduction  on  the 
earth,  we  proceed  to  examine  the  globe  itself.  And  here 
we  find  that  the  mere  shell  of  the  earth  takes  us  back 
through  an  unknown  series  of  ages,  in  which  creation  fol- 
lowed creation  at  the  distance  of  vast  intervals  between. 


THE   CHRONOLOGY  OF   CREATION.  169 

"But  though  in  the  progress  of  our  inquiries  we  soon 
find  that  we  have  cleared  the  bounds  of  historic  time,  and 
are  moving  far  back  among  the  periods  of  an  unmeasured 
and  immeasurable  antiquity,  the  geologist  can  demonstrate 
that  the  crust  of  the  earth  has  a  natural  history.  That 
he  cannot  determine  the  absolute  chronology  of  its  suc- 
cessive strata,  is  quite  immaterial.  We  only  ask  him  to 
prove  the  order  of  their  position  from  the  newest  deposit 
to  the  lowest  step  of  the  series ;  and  this  he  can  do.  For, 
nature  itself,  by  a  force  calculable  only  by  the  God  of 
nature,  lifting  up  in  places  the  whole  of  the  stupendous 
series  in  a  slanting  ladder-like  direction  to  the  surface,  has 
revealed  to  him  the  order  in  which  they  were  originally 
laid,  and  invites  him  to  descend  step  by  step  to  its  awful 
foundations. 

"Let  us  then  descend  with  him,  and  traverse  an  ideal 
section  of  the  earth's  crust.  Quitting  the  living  surface 
of  the  green  earth,  and  entering  on  our  downward  path, 
our  first  step  may  take  us  below  the  dust  of  Adam,  and 
beyond  the  limits  of  recorded  time.  From  the  moment 
we  leave  the  mere  surface-soil  and  touch  even  the  newest 
of  the  tertiary  beds,  all  traces  of  human  remains  disap- 
pear. So  that  let  our  grave  be  as  shallow  as  it  may,  in 
even  the  latest  stratified  bed,  we  have  to  make  it  in  the 
dust  of  a  departed  world.  Formation  now  follows  forma- 
tion, composed  chiefly  of  sand  and  clay  and  lime,  and  pre- 
senting a  thickness  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet  each.  As 
we  descend  through  these,  one  of  the  most  sublime  fictions 
of  mythology  becomes  sober  truth,  for  at  our  every  step 

15 


170  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

an  age  flies  past.  We  find  ourselves  on  a  road,  where  the 
lapse  of  duration  is  marked  not  by  the  succession  of 
seasons  and  years,  but  by  the  slow  excavation,  by  water, 
of  deep  valleys  in  rock-marble ;  by  the  return  of  a  con- 
tinent to  the  bosom  of  an  ocean  in  which  ages  before  it 
had  been  slowly  formed ;  or  by  the  departure  of  one  world 
and  the  formation  of  another.  And,  accordingly,  if  our 
first  step  took  us  below  the  line  which  is  consecrated  by 
human  dust,  we  have  to  take  but  a  few  steps  more  before 
we  begin  to  find  that  the  fossil  remains  of  all  those  forms 
of  animal  life  with  which  we  were  most  familiar  are 
diminishing,  and  that  their  places  are  gradually  supplied 
by  strange  and  yet  stranger  forms ;  till  in  the  last  fossil- 
iferous  formation  of  the  division,  traces  of  existing  species 
become  extremely  rare,  and  extinct  species  everywhere  pre- 
dominate. 

"  The  secondary  rocks  receive  us  as  into  a  new  fossil- 
iferous  world,  or  into  a  new  series  of  worlds.  Taking 
the  chalk  formation  as  the  first  member  of  this  series,  we 
find  a  stratification  of  a  thousand  feet  thick.  Who  shall 
compute  the  tracts  of  time  necessary  for  its  slow  sediment- 
ary deposition?  So  vast  was  it,  and  so  widely  different 
were  its  physical  conditions  from  those  which  followed, 
that  scarcely  a  trace  of  animal  species  still  living  is  to  be 
found  in  it.  Crowded  as  it  is  with  conchological  remains, 
for  example,  not  more  than  a  shell  or  two  of  all  the  seven 
thousand  existing  species  are  discoverable.  Types  of 
organic  life  before  unknown  arrest  our  attention,  and  pre- 
pare us  for  still  more  surprising  forms.  Descending  to  the 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.         171 

system  next  in  order,  the  oolite,  with  its  many  divisions, 
and  its  thickness  of  about  half  a  mile,  we  recognize  new 
proofs  of  the  dateless  antiquity  of  the  earth.  For,  enor- 
mous as  this  bed  is,  it  was  obviously  formed  by  deposition 
from  sea  and  river  water.  And  so  gradual  and  tranquil 
was  the  operation  that,  in  some  places,  the  organic  re- 
mains of  the  successive  strata  are  arranged  with  a  shelf- 
like  regularity,  reminding  us  of  the  well-ordered  cabinet 
of  the  naturalist.  Here,  too,  the  last  trace  of  animal 
species  still  living  has  vanished.  Even  this  link  is  gone. 
We  have  reached  a  point  when  the  earth  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  gigantic  forms  of  Saurian  reptiles,  monsters 
more  appalling  than  the  poet's  fancy  ever  feigned;  and 
these  are  their  catacombs.  Descending  through  the  later 
red  sandstones  and  saliferous  marls  of  two  thousand  feet 
in  thickness,  and  which  exhibit,  in  their  variegated  strata, 
a  succession  of  numerous  physical  changes,  our  subter- 
ranean path  brings  us  to  the  carboniferous  system,  or  coal 
formations.  These  coal  strata,  many  thousands  of  feet 
thick,  consist  entirely  of  the  spoils  of  successive  ancient 
vegetable  worlds.  But  in  the  rank  jungles  and  luxuriant 
wildernesses  which  are  here  accumulated  and  compressed, 
we  recognize  no  plant  of  any  existing  species.  Nor  is 
there  a  single  convincing  indication  that  these  primeval 
forests  ever  echoed  to  the  voice  of  birds.  But  between 
these  strata,  beds  of  limestone  of  enormous  thickness  are 
interposed ;  each  proclaiming  the  prolonged  existence  and 
final  extinction  of  a  creation.  For  these  limestone  beds 


It  2  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

are  not  so  much  the  charnel  houses  of  fossil  organisms,  as 
the  remains  of  organisms  themselves. 

"  The  mountain  masses  of  stone  which  now  surround  us, 
extending  for  miles  in  length  and  breadth,  were  once 
sentient  existences ;  tastaceous  and  coralline ;  living  at  the 
bottom  of  ancient  seas  and  lakes.  How  countless  the 
ages  necessary  for  their  accumulation ;  when  the  formation 
of  only  a  few  inches  of  the  strata  required  the  life  and 
death  of  many  generations.  Here  the  mind  is  not  merely 
carried  back  through  immeasurable  periods,  but  while 
standing  amid  the  petrified  remains  of  this  succession  of 
primeval  forests  and  extinct  races  of  animals  piled  up  into 
sepulchral  mountains,  we  seem  to  be  encompassed  by  the 
thickest  shadow  of  the  valley  of  death. 

"In  quitting  these  stupendous  monuments  of  death,  we 
leave  behind  us  the  last  vestige  of  land  plants,  and  pass 
down  to  the  old  red  sandstone.  Here,  too,  we  have  passed 
below  the  last  trace  of  reptile  life.  The  speaking  foot- 
prints impressed  on  the  carboniferous  strata  are  absent 
here.  The  geological  character  of  this  vast  formation 
again  tells  of  ages  innumerable.  For,  though  many 
thousand  feet  in  depth,  it  is  obviously  derived  from  the 
materials  of  more  ancient  rocks,  fractured,  decomposed, 
and  slowly  deposited  in  water.  The  gradual  and  quiet 
nature  of  the  process,  and  therefore  its  immense  duration, 
are  evident  from  the  numerous  'platforms  of  death'  which 
mark  its  formation,  each  crowded  with  organic  structures 
which  lived  and  died  where  they  are  now  seen,  and  which 
consequently  must  have  perished  by  some  destructive 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OP  CREATION.         1*73 

agency,  too  sudden  to  allow  of  their  dispersion,  and  yet 
so  subtle  and  quiet  as  to  leave  the  place  of  their  habitation 
undisturbed. 

"Immeasurably  far  behind  us  as  we  have  already  left 
the  fair  face  of  the  existing  creation,  while  traveling  into 
the  night  of  ancient  time,  we  yet  feel,  as  we  stand  on  the 
threshold  of  the  next,  or  Silurian  system,  and  look  down 
toward  'the  foundations  of  the  earth,'  that  we  are  not  half 
way  on  our  course.  Here,  on  surveying  the  fossil  struc- 
tures, we  are  first  struck  with  the  total  change  in  the  petri- 
fied inhabitants  of  the  sea,  as  compared  with  what  we 
found  in  the  mountain  limestone;  implying  the  lapse  of 
long  periods  of  time  during  the  formation  of  the  interven- 
ing old  red  sandstone  which  we  have  just  left.  But  still 
more  are  we  impressed  with  the  lapse  of  duration,  while 
descending  the  long  succession  of  strata,  of  which  this  pri- 
mary fossiliferous  formation  is  composed,  when  we  think 
of  their  slow  derivation  from  more  ancient  rocks ;  of  their 
oft-repeated  elevation  and  suppression ;  of  the  long  periods 
of  repose,  during  which  hundreds  of  animal  species  ran 
through  their  cycle  of  generations  and  became  extinct; 
and  of  the  continuance  of  this  stratifying  process,  until 
these  thin  beds  had  acquired,  by  union,  the  immense  thick- 
ness of  a  mile  and  a  half.  Next  below  this,  we  reach  the 
Cambrian  slate  system,  of  almost  equal  thickness,  and 
formed  by  the  same  slow  process.  Here  the  gradual 
decrease  of  animal  remains  admonishes  us  that  even  the 
vast  and  dreary  empire  of  death  has  its  limits,  and  that  we 
are  now  in  its  outskirts.  But  there  is  a  solitude  greater 

15* 


174  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

than  that  of  the  boundless  desert,  and  a  dreariness  more 
impressive  than  that  which  reigns  in  a  world  entombed. 
On  leaving  these  slate  rocks,  we  find  that  the  worlds  of 
organic  remains  are  past;  and  that  we  have  reached  a 
region  older  than  death,  because  older  than  life  itself. 
Here,  at  least  if  life  ever  existed,  all  trace  of  it  is  obliter- 
ated by  the  fusing  power  of  the  heat  below.  But  we  have 
not  even  yet  reached  a  resting-place.  Passing  down 
through  the  great  beds  of  mica  schist,  many  thousands  of 
feet  in  depth,  to  the  great  gneiss  formation,  we  find  that 
we  have  reached  the  limits  of  stratification  itself.  The 
granitic  masses  below,  of  a  depth  which  man  can  never 
explore,  are  not  only  crystallized  themselves,  but  the  igne- 
ous power  acting  through  them  has  partially  crystallized 
the  rocks  above.  Not  only  life,  but  the  conditions  of  life, 
are  here  at  an  end. 

"  Now,  is  it  possible  for  us  to  look  from  our  ideal  posi- 
tion backward  and  upward  to  the  ten  miles'  height,  sup- 
posing the  strata  to  be  piled  regularly,  from  which  we  have 
descended,  without  feeling  that  we  have  reached  a  point  of 
immeasurable  remoteness  in  terrestrial  antiquity  ?  Can  we 
think  of  the  thin  soil  of  man's  few  thousand  years,  in  con- 
trast with  the  succession  of  worlds  we  have  passed  through ; 
of  the  slow  formation  of  each  of  these  worlds  on  worlds, 
by  the  disintegration  of  more  ancient  materials,  and  their 
subsidence  in  water;  of  the  leaf-like  thinness  of  a  great 
portion  of  the  strata ;  of  the  consequent  flow  of  time  neces- 
sary to  form  only  a  few  perpendicular  inches  of  all  these 
miles;  or  of  the  long  periods  of  alternate  elevation  and 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OP   CREATION.  175 

depression,  action  and  repose,  which  mark  their  formation, 
without  acknowledging  that  the  days  and  years  of  geology 
are  ages  and  cycles  of  ages  ?" 

That  the  chronology  of  creation  is  thus  to  be  estimated 
on  a  scale  of  vast  proportions ;  that  the  grandeur  of  im- 
mense duration  is  offered  to  our  contemplation  in  the  past 
history  of  the  material  universe,  as  the  grandeur  of  im- 
mense extent  is  exhibited  in  the  compass  of  its  mighty 
mechanism,  is  as  clearly  the  conclusion  of  science  as  it  is 
impressively  the  intimation  of  those  noble  utterances  of 
ancient  inspired  poetry,  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

But  with  the  truths  thus  indubitably  indicated,  how  is 
the  record  of  Genesis  i.  to  be  reconciled  ?  What  is  the 
adequate  understanding  of  that  brief  but  beautiful  intro- 
duction to  the  great  volume  of  revelation,  which  shall 
harmonize  it  with  the  subsequent  disclosures  of  that  vol- 
ume, and  with  the  registry  that  is  so  deeply  inscribed,  as 
we  have  seen,  all  over  the  volume  of  nature  ?  Two  such 
interpretations  have  been  proposed.  The  one — that  which 
we  have  already  mentioned  as  in  our  view  satisfactorily 
established  on  exegetical  grounds,  in  connection  with  the 
geological  facts  now  adduced — the  construction  which 
reads  "ages"  as  the  true  meaning  of  the  recurring  "yoms" 
of  that  initial  chapter ;  a  reading  which  we  shall  presently 
endeavor  to  show  is  alone  authorized,  even  by  the  struc- 
ture of  the  record  itself.  The  other,  a  suggestion  offered  by 
Dr.  Chalmers,  and  admitted  for  near  half  a  century,  as  well 
by  great  Christian  naturalists  as  by  able  theologians,  which 
supposes  an  interval  of  ages  passed  over  in  silence  between 


1T6  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

the  first  verse  of  Genesis  and  the  second,  and  the  existing 
condition  of  our  world  to  have  been  effected  in  six  natural 
days,  described  from  the  second  verse  onward. 

Of  this  last  view,  Dr.  Harris  is  among  the  ablest  recent 
advocates.  And  it  is  on  this  account,  and  for  the  sake  of 
showing  its  inadequacy  in  part  from  his  own  statement, 
as  well  as  because  of  its  intrinsic  excellence,  that  we  have 
given  from  him  the  foregoing  extract.  Within  a  few  pages 
of  the  passage  quoted,  he  uses  this  language:  "From  a 
careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  my  full  conviction  is, 
that  the  sublime  affirmation,  *  In  the  beginning  God  created 
the  heaven  and  the  earth,1  was  placed  by  the  hand  of  in- 
spiration, at  the  opening  of  the  Bible,  as  a  distinct  and 
independent  sentence ;  that  it  was  the  divine  intention  to 
affirm  by  it,  that  the  material  universe  was  primarily  organ- 
ized by  God  out  of  elements  not  previously  existing ;  and 
that  this  originating  act  was  quite  distinct  from  the  acts 
involved  in  the  six  natural  days  of  the  Adamic  creation." 

That  the  first  verse  of  the  inspired  record  has  the  mean- 
ing here  assigned,  we  make  no  question ;  but  that  it  is  to 
be  separated  by  the  vast  unnoticed  interval  of  multi- 
plied ages  from  all  that  follows,  supposed  to  belong  to  the 
mere  Adamic  creation,  and  that  such  creation  only  is 
meant  to  be  described  in  the  second  and  succeeding  verses, 
and  as  accomplished  in  six  natural  days,  we  think  disproved 
by  considerations  of  irresistible  force. 

In  the  first  place,  we  ask,  is  it  in  accordance  with  the 
wondrous  structure  of  revelation,  in  regard  to  other  and 
kindred  topics,  that  so  incalculable  a  sweep  of  ages  and 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF  CREATION.  17*7 

events  should  be  thus  passed  over  without  one  allusion  ? 
Admitting,  as  we  do  in  full,  that  the  Bible  was  not  in- 
tended to  teach  natural  science  in  any  of  its  branches,  we 
cannot  but  believe  that  it  was  intended  to  manifest,  with 
increasing  clearness,  inimitable  harmony  in  all  the  relations 
of  truth.  The  great  disclosures  of  astronomy  are  not 
detailed  in  the  Scriptures.  Yet  when,  by  the  light  of  her 
glorious  discoveries  in  the  heavens,  Science  sits  down  to  a 
reperusal  of  the  inspired  volume,  and  reads  there,  repeated 
in  forms  so  various  and  striking,  the  sublime  utterances, 
(Psalm  xix.  1,)  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God," 
and  (Job,  xxvi.  7,)  "  He  stretcheth  out  the  north  over  the 
empty  place,  and  hangeth  the  earth  upon  nothing,"  she 
cannot  but  find  in  them  a  significance  most  impressively 
harmonizing  with  the  revelations  she  has  traced  in  the  out- 
ward world.  It  is  one  of  the  soul-subduing  proofs  of  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Bible.  And  is  it  to  be  supposed  she 
will  find  no  such  affecting  relations  between  the  story  she 
has  seen  undeniably  written  on  the  age-monuments  beneath 
us,  and  the  time-intimations  of  that  wonderful  Book  ? 

But,  again,  we  ask,  what  is  to  be  done  with  that  great 
fact  of  progression  in  the  creative  order,  which  Dr.  Harris 
has  himself  so  distinctly  recognized  and  so  justly  sketched 
in  liis  account  of  the  geological  periods  ?  He  truly  speaks 
of  "the  total  change  from  the  petrified  inhabitants  of  the 
sea,"  belonging  to  the  Silurian  system,  to  those  of  the 
"platforms  of  death,"  in  the  old  red  sandstone;  and  from 
these  to  those  "spoils  of  rank  jungles  and  luxuriant  wilder- 
nesses, accumulated  and  compressed  in  the  coal-series." 


178  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

Here,  he  affirms,  moreover,  is  "no  trace  of  bird  or  reptile 
life;"  and  yet,  in  the  next  higher  formation,  he  admits,  as 
existing  in  abundance,  those  feathered  giants  whose  foot- 
prints yet  abide  on  the  later  red  sandstone;  and  in  the 
oolite  above,  "those  Saurian  monsters,  more  appalling  than 
poet's  fancy  ever  feigned."  And  with  these  begin  to  appear 
"traces  of  animal  species  still  existing."  Still  ascending, 
he  finds  in  the  lower  tertiary  system  another  fossiliferous 
world,  containing  additional,  though  as  yet  "rare  traces 
of  existing  species."  He  is  in  the  eocene  range — the 
dawn  of  recent  life  has  opened.  Higher  up,  he  meets  with 
more  frequent  "remains  of  those  animal  forms  with  which 
we  are  familiar,"  but  mingled  with  many  that  to  us  are 
strange.  He  is  in  the  meiocene  or  less  recent  age.  And 
proceeding  on  his  upward  way,  he  recognizes,  just  below 
"the  line  consecrated  by  human  dust,"  types  of  many 
familiar  animal  species,  and  some  identical  with  man's  con- 
temporaries. Is  it  credible  that  all  this  means  nothing,  in 
connection  with  the  sacred  narrative?  That  it  is  all 
ingulfed  in  one  dark,  sealed  cavern  of  oblivion?  And 
that  a  like  general  progress  from  lower  to  human  life,  so 
remarkably  though  so  briefly  set  forth  in  the  record, 
imagined  to  belong  only  to  the  Adamic  creation,  is  a  mere 
casual  circumstance  of  no  grand  significancy  ?  We  cannot 
so  believe. 

That  three  great  master  life-divisions  should  be  so  dis- 
tinctly marked  in  the  grand  geological  scale  as  to  estab- 
lish, in  the  fundamental  nomenclature  of  that  science,  the 
terms  primary,  secondary,  and  tertiary,  to  indicate  the 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OP   CREATION.  119 

general  advance  toward  our  present  system ;  and  that  the 
Mosaic  history  should  exhibit  also  three  life-stages,  we 
cannot  deem  a  merely  casual  coincidence.  But  when  we 
find  a  correspondence  of  the  most  striking  character  be- 
tween each  of  the  great  geological  divisions  and  the 
parallel  stages  of  the  sacred  narrative,  and  the  relative 
position  of  the  parts  identical  in  the  two  series,  our  im- 
pression of  a  designed  coincidence  begins  to  assume  the 
force  of  a  decided  conviction.  In  the  primary  life-division, 
says  Hugh  Miller,  (The  Two  Records,)  "we  find  corals, 
crustaceans,  molluscs,  fishes,  and  in  its  later  formations  a 
few  reptiles,  but  none  of  these  classes  of  organisms  give  its 
leading  character  to  the  paleozoic ;  they  do  not  constitute 
its  prominent  feature,  or  render  it  more  remarkable  as  a 
scene  of  life  than  any  of  the  divisions  which  followed. 
That  which  chiefly  distinguished  the  primary  from  the  sec- 
ondary and  tertiary  periods,  was  its  gorgeous  flora."  It 
was  emphatically  the  period  of  plants.  Of  "herbs  yield- 
ing seed  after  their  kind."  In  no  other  age  did  the  world 
ever  witness  such  a  flora.  Of  this  extraordinary  age  of 
plants  every  coal-piled  grate  or  stove,  and  every  gas- 
illumined  city,  is  a  cheerful  remembrancer  and  speaking 
witness,  and  no  less  every  glowing  furnace  and  ponderous 
engine.  It  is  patent  to  all  that  the  first  great  division  on 
the  geological  scale  of  organized  being  was,  like  that  first 
described  in  the  Mosaic  record,  peculiarly  a  period  of  herbs 
and  trees,  "yielding  seed  after  their  kind." 

So  again  with  the  next  great  division  on  the  geological 
scale,  the  secondary  life-period.    It  had  herbs  and  plants,  but 


180  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS  FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

not  as  they  had  been.  In  its  course  there  lived  also  corals, 
crustaceans,  molluscs,  and  fishes,  and  a  few  dwarfed  mam- 
mals had  been  introduced  on  the  stage.  But  none  of  these 
marked  this  age.  Those  huge  birds  and  Saurian  mon- 
sters of  which  we  have  spoken,  distinguished  from  all 
others  the  secondary  life-period;  egg-bearing  animals, 
winged,  and  wingless.  And  in  marvelous  agreement  with 
all  this,  the  second  life-creation  of  Genesis  is,  of  "  moving 
(or  creeping)  creatures,  and  fowl,  and  great  whales,"  or,  as 
the  margin  has  it,  "great  sea  monsters." 

In  like  manner,  we  find  in  the  tertiary  period  a  charac- 
teristic class  of  creatures.  Certain  genera  that  had  ex- 
isted before  had  their  term  extended  into  this  age ;  and 
others  appeared  in  its  course  that  were  to  outlast  its  close. 
But  there  was  one  order  of  beings  peculiar  to  it,  by 
which  it  was  marked  off  from  the  ages  going  before,  and 
from  the  human  era  to  come  after — its  great  mammalian 
giants,  beasts  of  the  field,  such  as  in  size  and  number  the 
world  has  in  no  other  age  witnessed.  And  here,  as  in  the 
previous  instances,  the  narrative,  so  to  speak,  equally  joints 
into  the  natural  order.  The  third  and  last  life-creation 
before  man,  is  of  "cattle  and  beasts  of  the  earth  after 
their  kind."  Surely  coincidences  like  these  cannot  reason- 
ably be  considered  merely  casual  correspondences  between 
two  things  entirely  unconnected,  the  grand  order  of  all 
mundane  creations  engraved  upon  the  rocks,  and  a  sketch  of 
one  fractional  part  thereof  which  interpreters  would  call  the 
Adamic  creation  given  by  inspiration.  How  much  more 
satisfactory  to  a  comprehensively  considerate  and  sober 


THE   CHRONOLOGY    OP   CREATION.  181 

judgment  is  that  view  which  exhibits  the  record  as  won- 
drously  fitting  the  whole  creative  series ! 

But  there  is  another  fact  in  the  case,  respecting  which 
we  have  again  to  ask,  what  is  to  be  done  with  it  on  the 
day  hypothesis  ?  In  the  successive  geological  periods,  we 
find  a  certain  overlapping  of  organized  forms,  a  continu- 
ance, more  or  less  extensive,  of  some  species  which  belong 
properly  to  one  age,  among  the  forms  which  become  com- 
mon in  the  next  cycle.  Creatures  beginning  in  the  primary 
division  may  be  traced  into  the  secondary,  and  in  excep- 
tional cases  into  the  tertiary,  though  the  species  peculiar 
to  the  latter  gradually  rise  into  great  preponderance.  But 
there  is  no  instance  of  a  creature  that  has  become  extinct 
in  an  earlier  formation  being  reproduced  in  a  later.  Says 
Lyell,  (Principles  of  Geology,)  quoting  Buffon,  "races 
die  out,  because  time  fights  against  them,  and  new  species 
are  from  time  to  time  called  into  being,"  not  the  old  re- 
stored. A  race,  clearly  noticed  as  having  once  passed 
away,  returns  upon  the  stage  no  more.  The  grand  flora 
of  the  coal  measures,  when  once  buried,  appeared  not 
again.  The  frightful  monsters  of  the  oolite  fulfilled  their 
cycle,  and  disappeared,  to  show  their  hideous  forms  no 
more  forever.  And  the  gigantic  beasts  of  the  tertiary  age, 
mastodon  and  mammoth,  massive  cave-bear  and  formidable 
cave-hyena,  have  not,  we  may  gratefully  thank  Heaven, 
risen  up  again  to  terrify  us  and  consume  the  harvests  of 
the  earth,  since  their  ancient  burial.  This,  then,  is  a 
natural  law,  written  all  over  the  geological  monuments. 
Races  once  destroyed  return  not  again. 

16 


182  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

Xow,  however,  by  the  side  of  this  law,  we  meet  the 
remarkable  fact,  that  numerous  species  which  ranged 
along  in  the  tertiary  period,  greatly  anterior  to  our  time, 
are  found  coexisting  with  ourselves.  Xot  only  are  the 
remains  of  trees,  under  which  the  mammoth  roamed,  and 
which  are  found  with  the  bones  of  that  animal,  of  pre- 
cisely the  same  species  with  some  that  grow  in  our  own 
forests,  but  such  creatures  as  the  badger,  the  fox,  and  the 
wild  cat,  to  say  nothing  of  numerous  shell-fish,  identical 
with  those  now  existing,  are  proved  by  their  relics  to  have 
lived  during  the  pre-Adamite  tertiary  age.  Either,  then, 
as  in  previous  cases,  such  races  have  lived  on  continuously, 
from  the  tertiary  into  the  human  period,  or  before  the 
Adamic  time  they  were  destroyed,  and  at  that  time  re- 
created. The  latter  supposition  is,  as  we  have  seen,  con- 
trary to  the  uniformly  observed  law  of  divine  procedure ; 
and  is  therefore  altogether  improbable.  The  former  must 
then  be  accepted  as  the  fact.  That  is,  while  a  large  portion 
of  the  creatures  that  existed  during  the  tertiary  age  became 
extinct  before  man  appeared,  others  lived  on  in  unbroken 
series  into  the  human  age,  and  actually  occupied  the  earth 
when  man  was  called  into  being.  But  if  this  was  so,  there 
was  no  such  annihilating  catastrophe,  as  the  day  hypothesis 
assumes,  immediately  preceding  the  human  term.  ]S"o  utter 
overthrow,  breaking-up,  and  oblivion-working  ruin  of  all 
former  creations,  just  before  man  was  made.  Then,  the 
tohu  and  bohu,  the  "without  form  and  void"  of  the  second 
verse  of  the  inspired  history,  cannot  be  justly,  as  on  the 
hypothesis  in  question  they  are,  construed  as  denoting  the 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OP  CREATION.          183 

results  of  such  a  catastrophe.  But  instead,  they  must  be 
read  as  really  descriptive  of  the  world's  condition  next  after 
its  primary  creation.  This  reduces  to  a  mere  chimera,  a 
vanishing  dream,  the  notion  of  that  mighty  gulf  between 
the  first  grand  sentence  of  our  Bible  and  all  that  follows. 
But  when  that  dream  is  dispelled,  the  day  hypothesis  is 
gone.  It  has  neither  room  nor  resting-place.  It  must  be 
abandoned. 

These  several  considerations  seem  abundantly  to  discredit 
the  day  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  Yom.  But  in  doing  that, 
they  do  very  much  more.  They  clearly  establish  the  great 
probability  of  that  reading  which  considers  the  successive 
Yoms,  ages  of  indefinite  extent. 

This  probability  must,  however,  be  subjected  to  tests  of 
another  kind  before  it  can  be  admitted  into  the  rank  of 
established  verities.  Scripture,  by  its  own  nature,  and  by 
its  independent  position,  as  a  great  system  of  revealed  truth, 
must  at  last  be  its  own  interpreter.  It  must,  indeed,  be- 
cause from  the  same  Author,  harmonize  with  all  other 
truth  certainly  known.  And  a  true  interpretation  may  be 
thus  suggested  from  without ;  but  no  sense  that  it  will  not 
fairly  bear  in  its  own  structure  can  be  forced  upon  it,  no 
matter  how  otherwise  probable.  The  probability  may  be 
delusive.  The  really  forced  construction  cannot  be  true. 
Ultimately,  then,  the  Bible  must  interpret  itself.  And  our 
extended  Chronology  of  Creation,  probable  as  it  is  ren- 
dered by  the  foregoing  considerations,  must  be  brought  to 
the  test  of  a  fair  scriptural  examination. 

We  take  up,  therefore,  the  Sacred  History  of  Creation. 


184  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

And  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us,  relative  to  the  point  in 
question,  is  the  peculiar  indefiniteness  of  its  tone  and  ex- 
pressions. No  definite  date  for  "the  beginning"  is  hinted; 
no  exact  boundary  for  "the  heavens  and  the  earth."  The 
whole  history  of  visible  created  being  is  introduced  in  one 
brief  but  grand  statement,  abundantly  specific  as  to  the 
world's  actual  creation  by  the  Almighty,  but  altogether 
general  as  to  the  secondary  points  of  space  and  time. 
The  whence  for  the  world  is  settled  once  and  forever,  but 
the  when  and  the  where  are  left  fully  open  to  human 
inquiry. 

Next,  we  discover  nowhere  in  the  record  any  token  of  a 
transition  from  the  grandly  indefinite  to  the  contracted  and 
precise.  There  is  no  notice  whatever  of  any  commence- 
ment to  the  exact  periods  of  twenty-four  hours  that  have 
been  imagined;  while  the  idea  of  a  leap,  so  sudden  and 
unnoticed,  from  the  noble  comprehensiveness  of  the  intro- 
duction to  a  scale  of  such  diminutive  proportions,  is  at 
once  destructive  of  the  consistency  of  the  record,  and 
unworthy  of  its  grandeur.  From  this  general  spirit  of  the 
history,  therefore,  we  gather  that  it  makes  no  mention  of 
precise,  petty  periods  of  twenty-four  hours. 

Pass  we,  then,  to  particulars;  and  here  a  fact  which 
every  reader  has  observed  immediately  claims  attention. 
Until  the  fourth  Yom,  no  mention  whatever  is  made  of  the 
luminaries  by  which  natural  days  and  all  our  divisions  of 
time  are  marked.  From  the  first,  indeed,  as  intimated  in 
the  opening  verse,  we  believe  those  luminaries  to  have 
existed,  and  only  to  have  been  made  peculiarly  manifest  in 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OP   CREATION.  185 

the  fourth  Yom,  perhaps  by  the  clearing  up  of  the  atmo- 
sphere. But  total  silence  respecting  their  office  during 
the  earlier  Yoms  seems  unmistakably  to  indicate  that  those 
periods,  at  least,  were  not  intended  to  be  described  as 
natural  days.  This  particular  in  the  narrative  long  ago 
occasioned  questionings  concerning  the  Yoms.  St.  Augus- 
tine, on  account  of  it,  was  constrained  to  ask,  (see  Professor 
Lewis's  "Six  Days  of  Creation,"  for  this  and  other  sug- 
gestions,) "  Quis  ergo  animo  penetret  quo  modo  illi  dies 
transierint,  antequam  inciperent  tempora  quae  quarto  die 
dicuntur  incipere  ?" 

But  the  particular  time  designations  employed  are  in 
themselves,  and  in  the  manner  of  their  use,  no  less  sig- 
nificant against  a  natural-day  interpretation.  The  "  even- 
ing," "morning,"  and  "day"  are  not  only,  according  to 
their  etymology  in  the  original,  and  according  to  scriptural 
and  common  usage,  terms  of  very  general  signification, 
but  they  are,  in  this  history,  so  employed  as  really  to 
forbid  any  special  sense.  The  Hebrew  word  ereb,  "  even- 
ing," undoubtedly  the  mother  of  the  Greek  epsfios,  is  de- 
rived from  a  verb  which  signifies  to  mingle.  So  that  a 
mingling  or  blending  time  would  seem  intended  to  be 
described  under  that  term.  In  like  manner,  the  Hebrew 
boker,  "morning,"  is  derived  from  a  verb  meaning  to 
cleave  or  separate,  indicating  that  by  that  term  a  dis- 
tinguishing time  was  meant  to  be  characterized.  These 
terras,  then,  are  precisely  analogous  to  Spring  and  Fall. 
They  indicate  not  specified  duration,  but  modes  of  being. 
And,  accordingly,  the  Scriptures,  as  we  do,  speak  of  the 

16* 


186  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

morning  and  evening  of  the  year,  or  of  life,  or  of  the 
world.  Nor  are  the  relations  of  these  two  words  in  the 
account  less  remarkable  than  their  etymological  meanings. 
In  every  instance  the  evening  is  placed  first;  and  there  is 
nothing,  in  the  remotest  degree,  to  intimate  its  beginning 
or  its  end.  Had  creation  and  its  record  opened  with  the 
gleaming  light,  there  .had  been  marked  an  initial  moment. 
And  had  any  hint  been  given  of  some  recurring  phenomena, 
termini  for  the  evenings  and  mornings  were  possibly  imag- 
inable. But  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  is  here,  as 
Hesiod  later  wrote,  Mzkawa.  vbz  tylveTn,  "black  night  came 
into  being;"  and  Ovid  sung,  Lucis  egens  aer,  "the  ether 
was  void  of  light." 

Similar,  precisely,  are  the  indications  of  the  Tom.  It 
is  a  general  term  descriptive  of  no  particular  duration,  and 
applied  in  many  senses;  as  "the  Yom  of  the  Lord,"  "the 
Tom  of  Jerusalem,"  "the  Tom  of  justice,  or  mercy." 
And  in  the  history  before  us,  this  word  is  actually  used 
in  four  distinct  senses,  viz.:  (1)  To  specify  the  light-time, 
in  v.  5,  as  we  speak  of  daylight  or  daytime.  (2)  To 
denote  the  phenomenal  days,  which,  with  seasons  and 
years,  the  sun  was  to  mark  off,  as  stated  in  v.  14.  Indeed 
in  that  single  verse  the  word  is  used  in  both  these  senses. 
(3)  To  characterize,  as  in  ch.  ii.  v.  4,  the  sum-total  of  the 
whole  series  of  creative  periods.  And  (4)  To  express 
those  strange,  unphenomenal  intervals,  of  whatever  extent 
and  however  divided,  indicated  in  vss.  5,  8,  13,  as  not 
marked  off  by  rising  or  setting  sun.  Certainly  for  such  a 
word,  and  in  a  document  where  it  is  thus  variously  used, 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   CREATION.  1ST 

no  one  precise  and  exclusive  sense  can  be  claimed,  without- 
some  more  significant  condition  than  its  periodical  repe- 
tition. It  assuredly  may,  and  for  reasons  already  given 
and  others  to  be  adduced,  we  think  it  should  here  as  in 
other  places  it  must,  be  read  age.  As  in  Micah,  iv.  6, 
"  In  that  Yom,  (age,)  saith  the  Lord,  will  I  gather  the  out- 
casts of  Israel;"  and  Isaiah,  xii.  1,  "In  that  Yom  (age) 
shall  ye  say,  I  will  praise  the  Lord,  for  he  is  become  my 
salvation,"  etc. 

But  the  manner  in  which  these  several  terms  are  here 
used  is,  in  another  respect,  still  more  remarkable.  The 
literal  translation  in  the  first  instance  is,  "there  was  an 
evening,  and  there  was  a  morning,  one  day."  And  the 
affirming  statement  is  in  every  case  repeated,  though  the 
form  of  the  numeral  is  varied.  It  is,  as  if,  after  describing 
a  term  of  repose  and  an  interval  of  change,  an  extended 
darkness  and  a  succeeding  progress  of  illumination,  or  a 
season  of  mingled  and  a  term  of  divided  life,  it  had  been 
demonstratively  said,  "this  was  the  evening  and  this  was 
the  morning." 

The  peculiar  "one  day,"  of  the  first  statement,  receives 
some  light  from  a  singular  instance  in  Zechariah,  xiv.  6-9: 
"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  light  shall 
not  be  clear  nor  dark ;  but  it  shall  be  one  day,  which  shall 
be  known  to  the  Lord,  not  day  nor  night;  but  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  at  evening  time  it  shall  be  light.  And 
it  shall  be  in  that  day,  that  living  waters  shall  go  out  from 
Jerusalem ;  half  of  them  toward  the  former  sea,  and  half 
of  them  toward  the  hinder  sea;  in  summer  and  in  winter 


188  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

shall  it  be.  And  the  Lord  shall  be  king  on  the  earth ;  in 
that  day  shall  there  be  one  Lord,  and  his  name  one." 
Nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  that  the  "one  day" 
here  is  something  widely  different  from  an  ordinary  interval 
of  twenty-four  hours.  And  the  parallelism  of  expression 
would  indicate  that  something  also  greatly  differing  from 
the  minute  section  of  time  is  meant  for  the  beginning  of 
Yonis.  Josephus,  master  as  he  was  of  the  Hebrew  idiom, 
noticed  the  peculiar  intimation  contained  in  this  extraor- 
dinary phraseology,  (Antiq.,  book  i.  ch.  1.)  He  says: 
"This  was  the  first  day,  but  Moses  called  it  one  day,  the 
reason  of  which  I  am  able  to  give  even  now,  but  shall  put 
off  its  expression  until  another  time."  The  promised  ex- 
planation, if  ever  given,  has  not  come  down  to  us ;  but  this 
reference  to  the  case  is  enough  to  show  that  the  account 
before  us  was,  by  so  competent  a  judge,  regarded  as  one 
of  very  peculiar  significancy. 

There  is  yet  another  circumstance  in  the  history  con- 
firming the  age  interpretation.  No  evening  and  morning 
are  assigned  the  seventh  Tom.  They  are  in  every  case 
before  invariably  repeated;  here,  however,  they  are  very 
singularly  omitted.  Why  is  this  ?  Does  it  not  mark 
something,  in  the  course  of  this  period,  distinguishing  it 
from  the  others  ?  And  what  is  such  time-distinction,  if  not 
that  the  other  terms  were  finished,  but  this  unfinished  ?  Iii 
each  instance,  certainly,  when  the  "evening"  and  "morning" 
are  assigned  to  the  Yom,  that  term  is  represented  as 
brought  to  an  end,  closed,  completed.  Would  that  in- 
variable form  have  been  departed  from  in  the  seventh 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OP   CREATION.  189 

period,  had  the  Yom  in  this  case  been  also  completed? 
The  very  omission  of  the  formula  of  completion  seems 
strikingly  to  intimate  that  the  seventh  Yom  is  not  closed, 
that  it  is  yet  in  progress.  If  so,  this  is  not  a  brief  term 
of  terrestrial  rotation,  but  a  prolonged  age,  the  grand 
cycle  of  man's  earthly  existence;  a  period  of  mighty 
meaning  in  the  history  of  creation;  consecrated  to  pur- 
poses not  before  developed ;  devoted  mainly  to  a  being  of 
high  faculty  and  immortal  essence ;  and  appropriated  to  a 
wondrous  scene  of  discipline  and  redemption  whose  issue 
is  to  be  in  the  moral  universe  boundless  good,  and  glory 
unutterable  to  the  Everlasting  Father. 

Of  the  creative  history  there  are  two  other  associated 
traits  of  great  importance,  which  together  co-nduct  to  the 
same  conclusion;  its  quasi  prophetic  character,  and  its 
peculiar  optical  aspect.  It  is  a  description  of  events  in 
the  distant  past  knowable  only  by  revelation,  just  as  pro- 
phecy is  a  description  of  events  in  the  distant  future  know- 
able  only  by  revelation ;  and,  like  many  exhibitions  of  the 
prophets,  it  is  the  statement  of  an  eye-witness.  Both  of 
these  facts  are  very  significant. 

The  remarkable  visual  distinctness  imparted  to  the  nar- 
rative would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  grand  old  processes 
of  creation  were  revealed  to  Moses,  as  so  many  divine  dis- 
closures are  said  in  the  Bible  to  have  been  made,  viz., 
through  a  series  of  visions,  or  pictorial  representations. 
Of  course,  if  this  were  so,  if  the  vast  serial  drama  of 
creation  were  made  to  pass  thus  representatively  before 
the  eye  of  the  Prophet-Historian,  he  would  describe  the 


190  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

events  exhibited  as  one  who  had  witnessed  them  in  person, 
and  infuse  into  his  account  the  very  vividness  which  really 
marks  the  record.  But  whether  this  distinguishing  feature 
of  the  history  were  thus  or  otherwise  produced,  one  thing 
at  least  is  certain,  this  peculiar  mode  of  description — by 
obvious  appearances — adapts  the  narrative  most  marvel- 
ously  to  every  stage  of  natural  knowledge,  and  renders  it 
for  the  most  scientific  as  well  as  for  the  least  inquisitive 
age  "optically  true  in  all  its  details."  He,  surely,  needs 
something  more  than  reason  to  influence  his  judgment,  who 
can  see  in  this  adjustment  between  the  simple  story  of 
creation  and  the  indefinite  progress  of  scientific  discovery, 
no  impressive  evidence  of  divine  truth. 

So,  again,  with  the  history  in  the  general  character  of  a 
prophecy  to  be  read  backward.  The  principle,  sanctioned 
alike  by  experience  and  by  direct  scriptural  authority,  that 
prophetic  statement  is  to  be  rightly  understood  only  when 
fulfillment  has  shed  the  full,  light  of  verification  on  the 
predicting  page,  seems  as  instructive  toward  our  con- 
clusion as  it  is  justly  applicable  to  the  case.  "History," 
well  says  the  gifted  author  of  the  "Mosaic  Vision  of 
Creation,"  "is  the  surest  interpreter  of  the  revealed  prophe- 
cies which  referred  to  events  posterior  to  the  times  of  the 
prophet.  In  what  shall  we  find  the  surest  interpretation 
of  the  revealed  prophecies  that  referred  to  events  anterior 
to  his  time  ?  In  what  light,  or  on  what  principle,  shall  we 
most  correctly  read  the  prophetic  drama  of  creation  ?  In 
the  light,  I  reply,  of  scientific  discovery ;  on  the  principle 
that  the  clear  and  certain  must  be  accepted,  when  attain- 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OP   CREATION.  191 

able,  as  the  proper  exponents  of  the  doubtful  and  obscure. 
What  fully  developed  history  is  to  the  prophecy  which  of 
old  looked  forward,  fully  developed  science  is  to  the 
prophecy  which  of  old  looked  backward."  Here,  then, 
also,  the  only  sure  canon  of  prophetic  interpretation  con- 
ducts us  to  the  same  great  truth  of  divinely  adjusted 
harmony  between  the  inimitable  creative  record  and  the 
hoary  monumental  rocks. 

Thus  does  the  creative  history  itself,  in  every  part  and 
in  every  aspect,  deny  the  partial,  and  declare  the  grandly 
comprehensive  sense.  But  the- scriptural  evidence  in  favor 
of  this  sense  is  very  far  from  being  confined  to  this  history. 
It  is  scattered,  indeed,  all  through  the  Bible.  The  inspired 
Hebrew  poets  abound  in  references  to  creation  and  its 
sacred  record.  And  yet 'in  vain  shall  we  look  among  all 
these  allusions  for  one  hint  of  a  circumstance  so  remark- 
able as  the  compression  of  the  mighty  manifestations  of 
infinite  power  and  goodness  into  a  term  of  days  less  than 
the  lifetime  of  an  ephemeral  insect.  On  the  contrary,  they 
labor,  as  we  have  seen,  to  convey,  in  connection  with  it, 
ideas  of  vast  duration.  In  carrying  us  back  to  those 
ancient  ages,  they  are  conducting  us  as  far  as  mortals  can 
go,  toward  the  interminable  "from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting." 

And  when  those  wonderful  Hebrew  and  Greek  words,  olam 
and  eon,  whose  simple  meaning  is  merely  prolonged  time, 
are  found  so  commonly  applied  in  the  Scriptures,  as  such 
words  are  applied  nowhere  else,  to  describe  creations  and 
worlds,  another  and  a  most  striking  testimony  is  rendered, 


192  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

by  the  peculiar  structure  of  inspired  language,  to  the 
grand  chronology  of  creation.  One  instance  of  this  may 
here  suffice.  In  Hebrews,  i.  2,  the  phrase,  "  He  made  the 
worlds,"  is,  ruv~  aia>-,as  l-oir^sv,  "he  made  the  ages." 
Now  this  usage  with  alwv,  as  has  been  justly  remarked, 
(Professor  Lewis,  p.  354,)  "is  not  in  the  classical  Greek. 
We  find  nothing  like  it  in  Homer,  or  Plato,  or  JEschylus. 
They  never  use  this  word  for  the  world,  much  less  the 
plural  for  a  plurality  of  worlds  in  space  or  time.  But  no 
mode  of  speech  is  better  settled  in  the  New  Testament,  as 
it  had  previously  been  in  the  Old.  The  inference  seems 
unavoidable,  that  plurality  of  worlds  in  time,  or  creations 
in  successive  ages,  must  have  been  an  idea  conveyed  by  in- 
spiration, and  early  entertained  by  the  Hebrew  mind." 

Xow  when  all  these  proofs  are  taken  together,  direct 
and  indirect,  general  and  special,  from  structure  of  lan- 
guage, and  order  of  statement,  in  grandeur  of  thought 
and  harmony  of  meaning,  from  the  Bible  as  interpreting 
itself,  and  from  nature  as  interrogated  by  science,  and  from 
amazing  coincidences  between  the  utterances  of  revelation 
and  the  last  disclosures  of  scientific  research,  candor  can 
scarcely  be  supposed  capable  of  demanding,  on  such  sub- 
jects, a  nearer  approach  to  demonstration. 

But  to  the  whole,  it  is  objected  that  the  reason  given, 
Exodus,  xx.  11,  for  the  human  Sabbath,  in  connection 
with  what  is  said,  Genesis,  ii.  3,  requires  the  Toms,  in- 
cluding the  seventh,  to  be  understood,  as  just  such  days  as 
the  six  on  which  men  are  required  to  work,  and  the 
seventh  on  which  they  are  commanded  to  keep  a  sacred 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.          193 

rest.  In  this,  however,  there  is  little  weight.  The  word 
Tom  may  very  well  be  used  in  two  different  senses  in  the 
fourth  commandment,  just  as  we  have  seen  it  is  used  in 
four  senses  in  the  creative  history.  The  creature's  may 
well  be  a  Sabbath-day,  the  Creator's  a  Sabbath-age.  And 
this,  as  before  suggested,  is  indicated  by  a  remarkable 
omission  in  the  earliest  mention  of  the  seventh  Yom. 

So  far,  indeed,  is  the  fourth  commandment  from  fur- 
nishing any  serious  objection  to  the  estimate  presented, 
that  the  relation  between  this  view  and  that  divine  ordi- 
nance becomes  an  additional  illustration  of  the  truth  we 
have  been  exhibiting.  A  weight  of  meaning  is  hereby 
added  to  the  commandment  immeasurably  transcending 
that  of  the  common  exposition.  This  estimate  imparts  to 
the  present  cycle  a  significance  no  less  impressive  than  is 
the  grandeur  with  which  it  invests  the  past  and  the  future. 
It  exhibits  as  the  Divine  Sabbath  man's  whole  earthly 
term.  It  makes  his  entire  period  here  a  season  divinely 
ordained  for  sacred  purposes ;  of  which,  and  of  a  still  more 
sacred  state  of  being  in  the  future,  the  weekly  hallowed 
rest  enjoined  him  is  a  perpetual  type.  Thus  regarded, 
how  supremely  important  is  the  fourth  commandment  I 
How  greatly  instructive  the  reason  given  for  its  appoint- 
ment !  This  thought  it  were  unjust  not  to  permit  its 
sagacious  and  devout  propounder  to  illustrate  in  his  own 
felicitous  way  of  persuasive  genius. 

"What  I  ask,  (see  'Two  Records,')  viewed  as  a  whole, 
is  the  prominent  characteristic  of  geological  history,  or  of 
that  corresponding  history  of  creation  which  forms  the 

It 


194  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

grandly-fashioned  vestibule  of  the  sacred  volume  ?  Of 
both  alike  the  leading  characteristic  is  progress.  In  both 
alike  do  we  find  an  upward  progress  from  dead  matter  to 
the  humbler  forms  of  vitality,  and  from  thence  to  the 
higher.  And  after  great  cattle  and  beasts  of  the  earth 
had,  in  due  order,  succeeded  inanimate  plants,  sea  mon- 
sters, and  moving  creatures  that  had  life,  the  moral  agent, 
man,  enters  upon  the  scene.  Previous  to  his  appearance 
on  earth,  each  succeeding  elevation  in  the  long  upward 
march  had  been  a  result  of  creation.  The  creative  fiat 
went  forth,  and  dead  matter  came  into  existence.  The 
creative  fiat  went  forth,  and  plants,  with  the  lower  animal 
forms,  came  into  existence.  The  creative  fiat  went  forth, 
and  the  oviparous  animals,  birds,  and  reptiles  came  into 
existence.  The  creative  fiat  went  forth,  and  the  mam- 
miferous  animals,  cattle  and  beasts  of  the  earth,  came  into 
existence.  And,  finally,  last  in  the  series,  the  creative 
fiat  went  forth,  and  responsible,  immortal  man,  came  into 
existence.  But  has  the  course  of  progress  come,  in  con- 
sequence, to  a  close  ?  No !  God's  work  of  elevating, 
raising,  heightening,  of  making  the  high  in  due  progression 
succeed  the  low,  still  goes  on.  But  man's  responsibility, 
his  immortality,  his  God-implanted  instincts  respecting  an 
eternal  future,  forbid  that  the  work  of  elevation  and  prog- 
ress should  be,  as  in  all  other  instances,  a  work  of  creation. 
To  create  would  be  to  supersede.  God's  work  of  elevation 
now  is  the  work  of  fitting  and  preparing  peccable,  imper- 
fect man,  for  a  perfect,  impeccable,  future  state.  God's 
seventh  day's  work  is  the  work  of  redemption.  And, 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CREATION.         195 

read  in  this  light,  his  reason  vouchsafed  to  man  for  the 
institution  of  the  Sabbath  is  found  to  yield  a  meaning  of 
peculiar  breadth  and  emphasis.  God,  it  seems  to  say, 
rests  on  his  Sabbath  from  his  creative  labors,  in  order  that 
by  his  Sabbath  day's  work  he  may  save  and  elevate  you ; 
rest  ye  also  on  your  Sabbaths,  that  through  your  co-opera- 
tion with  him  in  this  great  work,  ye  may  be  elevated  and 
saved.  Made  originally  in  the  image  of  God,  let  God  be 
your  pattern  and  example.  Engaged  in  your  material  and 
temporal  employments,  labor  in  the  proportions  in  which 
he  labored;  but  in  order  that  you  may  enjoy  an  eternal 
future  with  him,  rest  also  in  the  proportions  in  which  he 
rests." 

"  One  other  remark,  ere  I  conclude.  In  the  history  of 
the  earth  which  we  inhabit,  molluscs,  fishes,  reptiles,  mam- 
mals, had  each  in  succession  their  periods  of  vast  duration ; 
and  then  the  human  period  began,  the  period  of  a  fellow- 
worker  with  God,  created  in  God's  own  image.  What  is 
to  be  the  next  advance  ?  Is  there  to  be  merely  a  repetition 
of  the  past?  An  introduction  the  second  time  of  man 
made  in  the  image  of  God  ?  No  !  The  geologist,  in  those 
tables  of  stone  which  form  his  records,  finds  no  examples 
of  dynasties,  once  passed  away,  again  returning.  There 
has  been  no  repetition  of  the  dynasty  of  the  fish,  of  the 
reptile,  of  the  mammal.  The  dynasty  of  the  future  is  to 
have  glorified  man  as  its  inhabitant;  but  it  is  to  be  the 
dynasty,  "the  kingdom,"  not  of  glorified  man  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  but  of  God  himself  in  the  form  of  man. 
In  the  doctrine  of  the  two  conjoined  natures,  human  and 


196  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

divine,  and  in  the  further  doctrine  that  the  terminal  dynasty 
is  to  be  peculiarly  the  dynasty  of  Him  in  whom  the  natures 
are  united,  we  find  that  great  progression  beyond  which 
progress  cannot  go.  We  find  the  point  of  elevation  never 
to  be  exceeded,  meetly  coincident  with  the  final  period, 
never  to  be  terminated ;  the  infinite  in  height  harmoniously 
associated  with  the  eternal  in  duration.  Creation  and  the 
Creator  meet  at  one  point  and  in  one  person.  The  long 
ascending  line  from  dead  matter  to  man  has  been  a  prog- 
ress God-ward,  not  an  asymptotical  progress,  but  des- 
tined from  the  beginning  to  furnish  a  point  of  union ;  and 
occupying  that  point  as  true  God  and  true  man,  as  Creator 
and  created,  we  recognize  the  adorable  monarch  of  all  the 
Future." 

Thus  does  the  great  chronology  of  creation,  whose  gran- 
deur is  only  equaled  by  the  evidences  of  its  truth,  conduct 
the  mind  by  stages,  that  suitably  exercise  its  best  powers, 
to  a  vantage  position,  where  the  lessons  of  wisdom  ap- 
pear like  the  light-adorned  landscape  from  the  mountain's 
summit.  Standing  there,  and  listening  to  the  great  har- 
monies of  nature  and  revelation,  we  look  backward  along 
the  track  of  ages,  and  learn  more  of  the  wonders  of  His 
being  who  is  "from  everlasting  to  everlasting."  We  look 
downward  upon  the  crowded  monuments  of  untold  buried 
generations  of  lower  creatures,  and  we  are  taught  more  of 
the  exhaustless  riches  of  His  benignity,  who  "openeth  his 
hand  and  filleth  all  things  living  with  plenteousness."  We 
survey  the  vast  array,  as,  in  one  mighty  procession,  cycle 
follows  cycle  of  ascending  grades  of  being,  and  we  discover 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OP  CREATION.         19f 

more  of  order  in  that  all-wise  plan,  which,  by  such  majestic 
steps,  marches  on  toward  consummation  in  the  appearance, 
trial,  recovery,  and  final  experience  of  a  race  endowed 
with  attributes  akin  to  divine.  More  of  those  attributes 
do  we  also  behold,  in  the  very  opening  of  the  pathway  that 
has  led  us  to  this  summit.  Thus  to  have  traced  the  great 
chain  of  life  through  many  and  profound  burials,  and  even 
to  have  groped  along  the  thread  of  creative  order  beyond 
the  dawn  of  organized  existence,  through  preparatory  ages 
of  convulsion  and  erosion,  up  to  that  state  of  mingled  ele- 
ments in  our  globe,  next  subsequent  to  the  primal  creative 
fiat,  we  perceive  to  be  an  achievement  not  less  magnifying, 
in  our  view,  the  wondrous  endowments  of  the  human  mind 
than  does  the  kindred  exploit  of  scaling  the  heavens,  and 
circling  with  planets  and  suns  in  their  mighty  rounds 
through  space. 

But  we  see  more  than  this.  Divine  goodness  we  here 
discover,  through  a  vast  series,  arranging  not  only  for  the 
comfort  of  the  highest  animated  creature,  and  for  the  capa- 
cities and  exercise  of  a  philosophic  mind,  but  for  the 
delight  of  an  imaginative  and  the  culture  of  a  religious 
soul.  Chaos  and  consolidation,  convulsion  and  subsidence, 
the  growth  and  the  grave  of  many  a  race,  have,  with  con- 
summate skill,  been  made  subservient  alike  to  the  conve- 
nience and  the  adornment  of  this  human  habitation.  They 
have  furnished  a  bounteous  soil  and  a  genial  air,  gushing 
fountains  and  perennial  fires,  a  home  of  safety,  a  treasury 
of  truth,  and  a  world  of  beauty.  Besides  every  supply  for 
his  wants  to  be  drawn  by  man,  with  "the  sweat  of  his 
17* 


198  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

brow,"  from  the  bosom  of  his  "Alma  Mater,"  in  the  folds 
of  her  vestments  are  stored,  for  his  discovery  and  extrac- 
tion, mines  of  wealth  and  charmed  mirrors  of  truth.  And 
those  vestments,  how  rich  they  are  in  beauteous  adornment ! 
The  robe  of  nature  is  traced  all  over  with  poetry  from 
Paradise.  Mountain  peak  and  ocean  tide,  leaping  cataract 
and  flashing  cloud,  rolling  hill  and  sloping  plain,  smiling 
vale  and  frowning  crag,  laughing  stream  and  mournful 
shade,  pleasant  landscape  and  delightful  scenes, — the  grand, 
the  picturesque,  and  the  lovely,  almost  everywhere  dis- 
played, and  awakening  in  human  bosoms  those  sympathies 
which  swell  responsive  to  the  touch  of  genius,  and  rise  to 
rapture  as 

"Bright-eyed  Fancy 
Scatters  from  her  silver  urn 
Thoughts  that  breathe  and  words  that  burn." 

But  more  than  all  this,  from  so  grand  an  eminence  of 
harmonized  truth  appear  higher  and  wider  views  of  that 
great  purpose  of  creative  plan,  whose  issue  is  "an  eleva- 
tion not  to  be  exceeded,  a  period  never  to  be  terminated." 
The  abolition  of  change,  the  destruction  of  death,  and  the 
exaltation  of  once  fallen  creatures  into  union  with  the  ever- 
blessed  Creator,  through  the  wondrous  mediation,  and  in 
the  everlasting  kingdom  of  that  Divine  man,  who  is  alike 
"the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end," 
the  "Ancient  of  days,"  and  the  Lord  of  all  coming  ages. 


DISCUSSION   IY. 

THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND. 

THE  common  belief,  derived  from  the  Bible,  that  about 
six  thousand  years  have  elapsed  since  our  planet  witnessed 
that  great  miracle  which  ushered  human  creatures  into  be- 
ing, is  regarded  by  certain  philosophers  as  untenable  in  the 
light  of  modern  science.  They  estimate  the  past  human 
period  as  vastly  more  extended.  Just  hi  proportion,  there- 
fore, as  their  views  seem  to  be  sustained,  the  chronology 
of  Scripture  would  appear  to  be  discredited.  And  this 
admitted,  confidence  in  the  higher  relations  of  revelation 
could  not  but  be  more  or  less  impaired.  We  are  entering, 
then,  upon  no  superfluous  task  in  undertaking  to  investi- 
gate the  grounds  of  these  two  chronologies ;  in  endeavor- 
ing to  trace  what  science  really  does  teach  as  to  the  age  of 
mankind,  and  what  the  Scriptures,  under  the  scrutiny  of 
learned  criticism,  disclose  on  the  same  subject. 

Part  of  the  field  we  have  to  survey  has  often  been  more 
or  less  carefully  explored.  Recent  researches  have,  how- 
ever, shed  upon  it  so  much  additional  light,  that  the  exam- 
ination may  be  now  more  satisfactorily  conducted.  These 
researches,  especially  as  conducted  by  two  eminent  German 
scholars,  Biinsen  and  Lepsius,  whom  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  quote,  will  be  suitably  used  in  elucidating  our 
subject.  As  the  most  thoroughly  informed  of  all  Egyp- 

(199) 


200  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

tologists,  these  learned  men  have  had  access  to  all  that 
the  old  Nile  monuments  have  thus  far  made  known  respect- 
ing ancient  ages.  At  the  same  time  they  are  savans  of 
almost  universal  erudition.  And,  in  addition  to  these 
qualifications,  they  have  brought  to  their  work  a  spirit 
much  more  than  usually  characterized  by  a  simple  love  of 
truth.  These  qualities  the  reader  will,  we  are  sure,  observe 
in  some  of  the  extracts  we  shall  give,  when  we  reach  that 
branch  of  the  subject  to  which  their  investigations  more 
specifically  pertain. 

At  present  our  inquiry  relates  to  the  scientific  evidence 
in  the  case.  We  propose  to  examine  the  grounds  on  which 
Professor  Agassiz,  Dr.  Usher,  Dr.  Leidy,  and  recently  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  etc.,  rest  their  claim  for  the  indefinite 
antiquity  of  our  race ;  and  not  only  to  trace,  with  them, 
indications  in  the  one  field  they  have  chosen,  but  to  bring 
testimony  from  other  departments  of  science.  What  is  on 
the  whole  substantiated,  or  rendered  most  probable,  in  the 
entire  scientific  view,  will  then  be  evident  to  the  reader. 
This  is  the  instance  of  evidence  offered  by  Agassiz : — 
"  The  fossil  remains  of  the  human  body  I  possess  from 
Florida,  were  discovered  in  a  bluff  upon  the  shores  of  Lake 
Monroe.  The  mass  in  which  they  were  found  is  a  conglom- 
erate of  rotten  coral-reef  limestone  and  shells,  mostly 
ampularias  of  the  same  species  now  found  in  the  St.  John's 
River,  which  drains  Lake  Monroe.  The  question  of  their 
age  is  difficult  to  answer.  The  point  to  settle  is  the  rate 
of  increase  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida  in  its  southward 
progress.  ...  If  we  assume,  from  evidence  we  now  have  of 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  201 

the  additions  forming  upon  the  reefs  and  keys,  the  rate 
of  growth  to  be  one  foot  in  a  century,  it  would  require 
135,000  years  to  form  the  southern  half  of  the  peninsula. 
....  Assuming,  further,  that  the  northern  half  of  the 
peninsula,  already  formed,  continued  for  nine-tenths  of 
that  time  a  desert  waste,  before  the  fossiliferous  conglom- 
erate could  be  formed,  there  would  still  remain  10,000 
years,  during  which  it  should  be  admitted  that  the  main 
land  was  inhabited  by  man." 

The  very  remarkable  assumptions  in  this  case  cannot 
but  strike  the  reader,  as  they  have  surprised  ourselves. 
That  a  philosopher  of  such  world-wide  reputation  should 
hazard  his  standing,  by  committing  himself  to  mere 
guesses  of  this  kind,  is  to  us  matter  for  wonder.  Let 
us  concede  each  guess  but  the  last,  still  there  will  remain 
a  question  which  the  learned  Helvetian  must  find  it  impos- 
sible to  answer.  Why  assume  T9,j  rather  than  T9090  or  -f^fo 
of  135,000  as  the  period  daring  which  Florida  may  have 
remained  uninhabited  by  man  ?  And  shall  this  process  of 
assumption  pass  for  scientific  investigation  ?  Is  it  not  a 
species  of  desecration,  when  the  noble  name  of  Science  is 
claimed  for  such  sheer  fancies  ? — Science,  with  her  calm, 
severe,  penetrating  eye,  and  her  step  careful  and  sure  as 
the  march  of  truth  ! 

But  we  have  more  to  say  of  the  case  itself.  Professor 
Agassiz  fairly  admits  that  his  conglomerate  consists 
mostly  of  ampularias  of  the  same  species  now  found  in 
the  St.  John's  River.  The  instance  is  therefore  precisely 
analogous  to  that  of  the  well-known  fossil  skeletons  of 


202  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Guadaloupe,  the  comparatively  recent  age  of  which  Lyell 
years  ago  established  :  — 

"  The  lens  shows,"  he  says,  (Principles  of  Geology,  vol. 
iii.  p.  265,)  "that  some  of  the  fragments  of  coral  compos- 
ing this  stone,  still  retain  the  same  red  color  which  is  seen 
in  the  reefs  of  living  coral  surrounding  the  island.  The 
shells  belong  to  species  of  the  neighboring  sea,  intermixed 
with  some  terrestrial  kinds  which  now  live  on  the  island. 
Yet  the  rock  in  which  these  skeletons  are  imbedded  is 
harder  than  statuary  marble.  Similar  formations  are  in 
progress  in  the  whole  of  the  West  Indian  Archipelago; 
and  they  have  greatly  extended  the  plain  of  Cayes,  in  St. 
Domingo,  where  fragments  of  vases  and  other  human 
works  have  been  found  at  a  depth  of  twenty  feet.  In 
digging  wells,  also,  near  Catania,  in  Sicily,  tools  have  been 
discovered  in  a  rock  somewhat  similar." 

The  guess,  then,  of  one-tenth,  or  one-hundredth  of  a 
previous  guess  of  so  many  years,  as  a  possible  period  dur- 
ing which  Florida  has  been  inhabited,  and  its  fossiliferous 
conglomerate  accumulating,  is,  we  hazard  nothing  in  say- 
ing, utterly  unreliable.  It  rests  on  no  scientific  foundation. 
It  is  entitled  to  none  of  the  credit  due  to  veritable  science. 
It  may  therefore  be  set  aside  as  really  showing  nothing 
respecting  the  antiquity  of  our  species. 

The  instance  adduced  by  Dr.  Usher  is,  in  many  respects, 
similar  to  this  of  Agassiz,  though  on  a  grander  scale  and 
given  more  in  detail : — 

"The  plain  on  which  the  City  of  New  Orleans  is  built 
rises  only  nine  feet  above  the  sea,  and  excavations  are  often 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  203 

made  far  below  the  level  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  these 
sections,  several  successive  growths  of  cypress  timber  have 
been  brought  to  light.  In  digging  the  foundations  for  the 
gas-works,  the  Irish  spadesmen,  finding  they  had  to  cut 
through  timber  instead  of  soil,  gave  up  the  work,  and 
were  replaced  by  a  corps  of  Kentucky  axemen,  who  hewed 
their  way  downward  through  four  successive  growths  of 
timber,  the  lowest  so  old  that  it  cut  like  cheese.  Abra- 
sions of  the  river  banks  show  similar  growths  of  sunken 
timber;  while  stately  live  oaks,  flourishing  on  the  bank 
directly  above  them,  are  living  witnesses  that  the  soil  has 
not  changed  its  level  for  ages.  No  less  than  ten  distinct 
cypress  forests  have  been  traced  at  different  levels  below 
the  present  surface  in  parts  of  Louisiana,  where  the  range 
between  high  and  low  water  is  much  greater  than  it  is  at 
New  Orleans.  These  groups  of  trees,  the  live  oaks  on  the 
banks,  and  the  successive  cypress  beds  beneath,  are  arranged 
vertically  above  each  other,  and  are  seen  to  great  advant- 
age in  many  places  in  the  vicinity  of  New  Orleans." 

"An  ingenious  calculation  has  been  made  of  the  last  emer- 
gence of  the  site  of  that  city,  in  which  these  cypress  forests 
play  an  important  part.  The  history  of  this  event  is  thus 
divided  into  three  eras :  1.  The  era  of  colossal  grasses, 
trembling  prairies,  etc.,  as  seen  in  the  lagoons,  lakes,  and 
sea-coast.  2.  The  era  of  the  cypress  basins.  3.  The  era 
of  the  present  live-oak  platform.  Existing  types  from  the 
Balize  to  the  Highlands  show  that  these  belts  were  succes- 
sively developed  from  the  water  in  the  order  named ;  the 
grass  preceding  the  cypress,  and  the  cypress  being  sue- 


204  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOB   THE   BIBLE. 

ceeded  by  the  live-oak.  Supposing  an  elevation  of  five 
inches  in  a  century,  which  is  about  the  rate  recorded  for 
the  accumulation  of  detrital  deposits  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile,  during  seventeen  centuries,  by  the  nilometer  men- 
tioned by  Strabo,  we  shall  have  1500  years  for  the  era  of 
aquatic  plants  until  the  appearance  of  the  first  cypress 
forest;  or,  in  other  words,  for  the  elevation  of  the  grass 
zone  to  the  condition  of  a  cypress  basin." 

"  Cypress-trees  of  ten  feet  in  diameter  are  not  uncom- 
mon in  the  swamps  of  Louisiana;  arid  one  of  that  size 
was  found  in  the  lowest  bed  of  the  excavation  at  the  gas- 
works in  New  Orleans.  In  timber  of  this  kind  from  95  to 
120  rings  of  annual  growth  have  been  measured  in  an 
inch ;  and,  according  to  the  lower  ratio,  a  tree  of  ten  feet 
diameter  will  yield  5700  rings  of  annual  growth ;  indicat- 
ing that  number  of  years  as  the  age  of  the  tree.  Though 
many  generations  of  such  trees  may  have  grown  and  perished 
in  the  present  cypress  region,  yet  to  avoid  all  ground  of 
cavil  only  two  generations  are  assumed,  giving  11, 400  years." 

"  The  maximum  age  of  the  oldest  tree  growing  on  the 
live-oak  platform  is  estimated  at  1500  years,  and  only  one 
generation  is  counted.  These  data  yield  the  following 
table : — 

"Geological  Chronology  of  the  Last  Emergence  of  the  Site  of 
New  Orleans. 

Era  of  the  aquatic  plants 1,500  years. 

Era  of  the  cypress  basin 11,400      " 

Era  of  the  live-oak  platform 1,500      " 


Total  period  of  elevation 14,400 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  205 

"Each  of  these  sunken  forests  must  have  had  a  period 
of  rest  and  gradual  depression,  estimated  as  equal  to  the 
1500  years  of  the  live-oak  era,  which  of  course  occurred 
but  once  in  the  series.  We  shall  then  certainly  be  within 
bounds,  if  we  assume  the  period  of  such  elevation  to  have 
been  equivalent  to  the  one  above  arrived  at;  and,  inas- 
much as  there  were  at  least  ten  such  changes,  we  reach  the 
following  result : — 

Last  emergence,  as  above 14,400  years. 

Ten  elevations  and  depressions,  each  equal  to  this...  144,000       " 


Total  age  of  the  delta 158,400       " 

"In  the  excavation  at  the  gas-works  above  referred  to, 
burnt  wood  was  found  at  the  depth  of  sixteen  feet ;  and,  at 
the  same  depth,  the  workmen  discovered  the  skeleton  of  a 
man.  The  cranium  lay  beneath  the  roots  of  a  cypress  tree, 
belonging  to  the  fourth  forest  level  below  the  surface,  and 
was  in  good  preservation.  The  other  bones  crumbled  to 
pieces  on  being  handled." 

"If  we  take,  then,  the  present  era  at 14,400  years, 

and  add  three  subterranean  groups 43,200       " 

we  have  a  total  human  period  at  least  of 57,600       " 

"From  these  data  it  appears  that  the  human  race 
existed  in  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi,  more  than  57,000 
years  ago." 

In  all  this  there  may  be,  as  its  propounder  alleges, 
ingenuity,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  no  credit  as  a 

•  13 


206  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

specimen  of  scientific  investigation.  Nearly  every  element 
of  the  calculation  is  again  vitiated  by  the  most  unwarrant- 
able assumption. 

The  authority  for  ten  successive  beds  of  cypress  forest, 
grown  over  one  another,  is  vague  and  worthless.  The 
idea  of  alternate  elevations  and  depressions  of  such  sunken 
forests,  is  an  enormous  assumption,  involving  the  supposi- 
tion of  prodigious  volcanic  forces.  These,  if  real,  leave  no 
room  for  regular  guess-work,  immensely  fitful  as  they  are. 

That  such  buried  trees  actually  grew  where  they  are 
found  imbedded,  is  also  an  assumption,  by  no  means  to  be 
admitted. 

"When  timber,"  says  Lyell,  "is  drifted  down  by  a  river, 
it  is  often  arrested  by  lakes ;  and,  becoming  water-logged, 
it  may  sink  and  become  imbedded  in  the  lacustrine  strata, 
...  In  the  course  of  the  Mackenzie  River  we  have  an  ex- 
ample of  the  vast  accumulations  of  vegetable  matter  now 
in  progress.  ...  As  the  trees  retain  their  roots,  which  are 
often  loaded  with  earth  and  stones,  they  readily  sink,  and, 
accumulating  in  the  eddies,  form  shoals,  which  ultimately 
augment  into  islands.  .  .  .  Yast  quantities  of  drift  timber 
are  buried  under  the  sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and 
it  has  formed  a  barrier  of  islands  and  shoals." 

Occurrences  of  this  kind,  repeated  in  the  floods  of  no 
great  number  of  centuries,  abundantly  explain  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  Mississippi  delta,  "Por,"  adds  Lyell, 
"  the  trunks  of  trees  borne  down  by  the  Mississippi,  many 
of  them  subside,  and  are  imbedded  in  the  iiew  strata  which 
form  the  delta." 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  207 

There  is,  therefore,  no  support  for  the  assumption  of 
cypress  forests  growing  one  over  another  in  interminable 
succession. 

And  the  further  demand  that  four  gigantic  growths  of 
the  kind  be  allowed  in  the  trifling  vertical  range  of  sixteen 
feet,  is  nothing  less  than  preposterous. 

As  to  skeletons  in  such  cases,  they  may  be  of  com- 
paratively recent  deposit.  "At  the  distance  of  fifty  miles 
from  the  base  of  the  delta  of  the  Ganges,"  says  the  eminent 
geologist  already  quoted,  "there  is  a  circular  space  of 
about  fifteen  miles  in  diameter,  where  soundings  of  a  thou- 
sand feet  sometimes  fail  to  reach  the  bottom.  As,  during 
the  flood  season,  the  quantity  of  mud  and  sand  poured  by 
the  great  river  into  the  bay  of  Bengal  is  so  great  that  the 
sea  only  recovers  its  transparency  at  the  distance  of  sixty 
miles  from  the  coast,  this  depression  must  be  gradually 
shoaling.  Now,  if  a  human  body  sink  down  to  the  bottom 
in  such  a  spot,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  it  may 
become  buried  under  a  depth  of  three  or  four  thousand 
feet  of  sediment  in  the  same  number  of  years."  And  if  by 
the  gradual  or  sudden  action  of  internal  force,  this  deposit 
were  upheaved,  and  subsequently  by  some  casualty  laid 
open  to  human  inspection,  how  many  millions  of  ages 
would  it  not  mark  on  the  unscientific  chronological  scale 
of  the  instances  we  are  examining  ? 

The  ingenious  estimate  of  57,000  years  for  the  New 
Orleans  skeleton  is  probably  about  as  accurate. 

"In  the  delta  of  the  Ganges,"  Lyell  further  states, 
"bones  of  men  have  been  found,  in  digging  a  well,  at  the 


208  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

depth  of  ninety  feet;  but  as  that  river  frequently  shifts  its 
course,  and  fills  up  its  ancient  channels,  we  are  not  called 
upon  to  suppose  that  these  bodies  are  of  extremely  high 
antiquity,  or  that  they  were  buried  when  that  part  of  the 
surrounding  delta,  where  they  occur,  was  first  gained  from 
the  sea."  The  parallel  between  such  cases  and  the  New 
Orleans  exhumations  may  be  judged  of  from  the  following 
fact,  stated  by  Flint,  in  his  "  Geography  of  the  Mississippi 
Yalley."  "At  every  flood,  the  Mississippi  River  over- 
spreads a  vast  country,  principally  on  its  western  sides, 
from  ten  to  fifty  miles  in  breadth,  through  the  last  five 
hundred  miles  of  its  course ;  and  most  of  the  water  which 
overflows  below  Red  River  goes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
without  returning  to  the  river." 

No  estimate  of  fifty  thousand  or  five  thousand  years,  in 
such  cases,  can  justly  claim  the  slightest  confidence.  It 
is  not  sustained  by  probability,  it  is  repudiated  by  science. 

Nor  is  less  to  be  said  in  regard  to  other  so-termed 
instances  of  indefinitely  old  human  relics.  "The  human 
bones,"  says  Lyell,  quoting  with  approbation  the  judg- 
ment of  Desnoyers,  "associated  in  certain  caverns,  etc., 
with  the  fossil  rhinoceros,  hyena,  bear,  and  several  other 
lost  species,  must  belong,  not  to  the  antediluvian  periods, 
but  to  a  people  in  the  same  stage  of  civilization  as  those 
who  constructed  the  tumuli  and  altars  of  the  primitive  in- 
habitants of  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Germany.  Since  the  flint- 
hatchets,  and  arrow-heads,  and  the  pointed  bones,  and 
coarse  pottery  of  such  caves,  agree  precisely  in  character 
with  those  found  in  the  tumuli  and  under  the  dolmens, 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  209 

(altars  of  unhewn  stone.)  It  is  not/ therefore,  on  such 
evidence  that  we  ought  readily  to  admit  the  high  antiquity 
of  the  human  race." 

Dr.  Leicly,  more  cautious  and  more  candid  than  the  phi- 
losophers we  have  reviewed,  fairly  admits  that  no  such  high 
antiquity  is  scientifically  established.  That  "primitive 
races  of  men  may  have  inhabited  the  intertropical  re- 
gions," in  a  vastly  remote  age,  he  indeed  supposes.  And 
that  evidence  of  the  fact  will  yet  be  discovered,  he  is 
"  strongly  inclined  to  suspect."  Still  his  candid  avowal  is, 
"No  satisfactory  evidence  has  been  adduced  in  favor  of 
this  early  appearance  of  man."  "While  engaged  in 
pala3ontological  researches,"  he  states,  "I  sought  for  ear- 
lier records  of  the  aboriginal  races  of  man  than  have 
reached  us  through  vague  traditions,  or  through  later 
authentic  history,  but  without  being  able  to  discover  any 
positive  evidences  of  the  exact  geological  period  of  the 
advent  of  man  in  the  fauna  of  the  earth.  The  numerous 
facts  which  have  been  brought  to  our  notice,  touching  the 
discovery  of  human  bones,  and  rude  implements  of  art,  in 
association  with  the  remains  of  animals  of  the  earlier  plei- 
ocene  deposits,  are  not  conclusive  evidence  of  their  con- 
temporaneous existence." 

This,  from  so  accomplished  a  palaeontologist,  who  is  suf- 
ficiently disposed,  as  his  declarations  show,  to  find,  if  pos- 
sible, a  high  antiquity  for  mankind,  is  well-nigh  conclusive 
as  to  the  negative  relations  of  science  in  the  case.  He  is, 
in  fact,  an  authority  of  great  weight  against  the  instances 
of  Agassiz  and  Dr.  Usher,  and  all  others  like  them,  that 
18* 


210  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS    FOR    THE   BIBLE. 

have  been  urged.  His  admissions  afford  also  no  slight 
support  to  the  considerations  we  have  been  pressing,  on 
the  basis  of  fact,  according  to  witnesses  of  the  most  un- 
questionable character. 

Other  instances  cf  ancient  deposit,  supposed  to  indicate 
a  high  antiquity  for  the  human  race,  now,  however,  claim 
our  attention;  instances  recently  accepted  by  observers 
of  largest  experience  in  this  department  of  research,  and — 
though  much  discussed  pro  and  con  in  the  scientific  world 
at  the  present  time,  no  less  than  eighteen  communications, 
on  one  or  the  other  side  of  the  questions  involved,  having 
appeared  within  the  last  six  months  in  the  London  Ath- 
enaeum alone — more  or  less  relied  upon,  as  sustaining  the 
idea  of  a  past  term  for  mankind  much  more  extended  than 
that  commonly  assigned.  These  cases  are  significant  in 
themselves,  but  become  doubly  important  by  reason  of  the 
weighty  names  which  give  them  no  inconsiderable  author- 
ity. Among  these,  that  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell  carries  of 
course  most  influence,  especially  in  connection  with  the 
fact  that  heretofore  his  caution  on  this  particular  subject 
has  been  not  less  remarkable  than  his  scientific  judgment 
has  been  generally  careful,  comprehensive,  and  in  the  main 
reliable.  The  instances  referred  to,  we  shall  first  exhibit 
and  then  scrutinize.  They  cannot,  perhaps,  be  better  pre- 
sented than  in  a  late  statement  of  the  distinguished  votary 
of  geological  science  last  mentioned. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  September,  1859,  in  the  section  geology, 
the  president,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  read  the  opening  address, 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  211 

which,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  question  before  us,  we  give 
entire : — 

"No  subject  has  lately  excited  more  curiosity  and  gen- 
eral interest  among  geologists  and  the  public  than  the 
question  of  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race :  whether  or 
no  we  have  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  the  former  coexist- 
ence of  man  with  certain  extinct  mammalia,  in  caves  or  in 
the  superficial  deposits  commonly  called  drift  or  diluvium. 
For  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  the  occasional  occur- 
rence, in  various  parts  of  Europe,  of  the  bones  of  man  or 
the  works  of  his  hands,  in  cave-breccias  and  stalactites, 
associated  with  the  remains  of  the  extinct  hyena,  bear, 
elephant,  and  rhinoceros,  have  given  rise  to  a  suspicion 
that  the  date  of  man  must  be  carried  farther  back  than  we 
had  heretofore  imagined.  On  the  other  hand,  extreme  re- 
luctance was  naturally  felt  on  the  part  of  scientific  reasoners 
to  admit  the  validity  of  such  evidence,  seeing  that  so  many 
caves  have  been  inhabited  by  a  succession  of  tenants,  and 
have  been  selected  by  man  as  a  place  not  only  of  domicile 
but  of  sepulture,  while  some  caves  have  also  served  as  the 
channels  through  which  the  waters  of  flooded  rivers  have 
flowed;  so  that  the  remains  of  living  beings  which  have 
peopled  the  district  at  more  than  one  era  may  have  subse- 
quently been  mingled  in  such  caverns,  and  confounded 
together  in  one  and  the  same  deposit.  The  facts,  however, 
recently  brought  to  light  during  the  systematic  investiga- 
tion, as  reported  on  by  Falconer,  of  the  Brixham  Cave, 
must,  I  think,  have  prepared  you  to  admit  that  skepticism 
in  reference  to  the  cave-evidence  in  favor  of  the  antiquity 


212  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

of  man  had  previously  been  pushed  to  an  extreme.  To 
escape  from  what  I  now  consider  was  a  legitimate  deduc- 
tion from  the  facts  already  accumulated,  we  were  obliged 
to  resort  to  hypotheses  requiring  great  changes  in  the  rela- 
tive levels  and  drainage  of  valleys,  and,  in  short,  the  whole 
physical  geography  of  the  subsequent  regions  where  the 
caves  are  situated — changes  that  alone  imply  a  remote  an- 
tiquity of  the  human  fossil  remains,  and  make  it  probable 
that  man  was  old  enough  to  have  coexisted,  at  least,  with 
the  Siberian  mammoth.  But,  in  the  course  of  the  last  fif- 
teen years,  another  class  of  proofs  has  been  advanced,  in 
France,  in  confirmation  of  man's  antiquity,  into  two  of 
which  I  have  personally  examined  in  the  course  of  the 
present  summer,  and  to  which  I  shall  now  briefly  advert. 

"First.  So  long  ago  as  the  year  1844,  M.  Aymard,  an 
eminent  palaeontologist  and  antiquary,  published  an  account 
of  the  discovery,  in  the  volcanic  district  of  central  France, 
of  portions  of  two  human  skeletons  (the  skulls,  teeth,  and 
bones)  imbedded  in  a  volcanic  breccia,  found  in  the  Mount- 
ain of  Denise,  in  the  environs  of  Le  Puy  en  Velay,  a  breccia 
anterior  in  date  to  one,  at  least,  of  the  latest  eruptions  of 
that  volcanic  mountain.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  same 
hill  the  remains  of  a  large  number  of  mammalia,  most  of 
them  of  extinct  species,  have  been  detected  in  tufaceous 
strata,  believed,  and  I  think  correctly,  to  be  of  the  same 
age.  The  authenticity  of  the  human  fossils  was  from  the 
first  disputed  by  several  geologists,  but  admitted  by  the  ma- 
jority of  those  who  visited  Le  Puy,  and  saw  with  their  own 
eyes  the  original  specimen  now  in  the  museum  of  that 


THE   AGE   OF  MANKIND.  213 

town.  Among  others,  M.  Pictet,  so  well  known  to  you 
by  his  excellent  work  on  palaeontology,  declared,  after  his 
visit  to  the  spot,  his  adhesion  to  the  opinions  previously 
expressed  by  Aymard.  My  friend,  Mr.  Scrope,  in  the  sec- 
ond edition  of  his  "Volcanoes  of  Central  France,"  lately 
published,  also  adopted  the  same  conclusion,  although  after 
accompanying  me  this  year  to  Le  Puy,  he  has  seen  reason 
to  modify  his  views — the  result  of  our  joint  examination. 
.  .  .  But  while  I  have  thus  failed  to  obtain  satisfactory  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  the  remote  origin  assigned  to  the  human 
fossils  of  Le  Puy,  I  am  fully  prepared  to  corroborate  the 
conclusions  which  have  been  recently  laid  before  the  Royal 
Society  by  Mr.  Prestwick,  in  regard  to  the  age  of  the  flint 
implements  associated  in  undisturbed  gravel,  in  the  north 
of  France,  with  the  bones  of  elephants,  at  Abbeville  and 
Amiens.  These  were  first  noticed  at  Abbeville,  and  their 
true  geological  position  assigned  to  them  by  M.  Boucher  de 
Perthes,  in  1849,  in  his  "Antiquites  Celtiques,"  while  those 
of  Amiens  were  afterwards  described,  in  1855,  by  the  late 
Dr.  Rigollot.  For  a  clear  statement  of  the  facts,  I  may 
refer  you  to  the  abstract  of  Mr.  Prestwick's  memoir  in  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  for  1859,  and  have  only 
to  add  that  I  have  myself  obtained  abundance  of  flint  im- 
plements during  a  short  visit  to  Amiens  and  Abbeville. 
Two  of  the  worked  flints  of  Amiens  were  discovered  in 
the  gravel  pits  of  St.  Acheul,  one  at  the  depth  of  ten,  and 
the  other  of  seventeen  feet  below  the  surface,  at  the  time  of 
my  visit ;  and  M.  Georges  Pouchet,  of  Rouen,  author  of  a 
work  on  the  Races  of  Man,  who  has  since  visited  the  spot, 


214  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS    FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

has  extracted  with  his  own  hands  one  of  these  implements, 
as  Messrs.  Prestwiek  and  Flower  had  done  before  him. 
The  stratified  gravel  resting  immediately  on  the  chalk  in 
which  these  rudely-fashioned  implements  are  buried,  belongs 
to  the-  post-pliocene  period,  all  the  fresh-water  and  land 
shells  which  accompany  them  being  of  existing  species. 
The  great  number  of  the  fossil  instruments  which  have 
been  likened  to  hatchets,  spear-heads,  and  wedges,  is  truly 
wonderful.  More  than  a  thousand  of  them  have  already 
been  met  with  in  the  last  ten  years,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Somrne,  in  an  area  fifteen  miles  in  length.  I  infer  that  a 
tribe  of  savages,  to  whom  the  use  of  iron  was  unknown, 
made  a  long  sojourn  in  this  region ;  and  I  am  reminded  of 
a  large  Indian  mound,  which  I  saw  in  St.  Simond's  Island, 
in  Georgia — a  mound  ten  acres  in  area,  having  an  average 
height  of  five  feet,  chiefly  composed  of  cast-away  oyster- 
shells — throughout  which  arrow-heads,  stone  axes,  and 
Indian  pottery  are  dispersed.  If  the  neighboring  River 
Altamaha,  or  the  sea  which  is  at  hand,  should  invade, 
sweep  away,  and  stratify  the  contents  of  this  mound,  it 
might  produce  a  very  analogous  accumulation  of  human 
implements,  unmixed  perhaps  with  human  bones.  Al- 
though the  accompanying  shells  are  of  living  species,  I 
believe  the  antiquity  of  the  Abbeville  and  Amiens  flint  im- 
plements to  be  great  indeed,  if  compared  to  the  times  of 
history  and  tradition.  I  consider  the  gravel  to  be  of  flu- 
viatile  origin ;  but  I  could  detect  nothing  in  the  structure 
of  its  several  parts  indicating  cataclysmal  action,  nothing 
that  might  not  be  due  to  such  river-floods  as  we  have  wit- 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  215 

nessed  in  Scotland  during  the  last  half  century.  It  must 
have  required  a  long  period  for  the  wearing  down  of  the 
chalk  which  supplied  the  broken  flints  for  the  formation  of 
so  much  gravel  at  various  heights,  sometimes  100  feet 
above  the  present  level  of  the  Somme,  for  the  deposition 
of  fine  sediment,  including  entire  shells,  both  terrestrial  and 
aquatic,  and  also  for  the  denudation  which  the  entire  mass 
of  stratified  drift  has  undergone,  portions  having  been 
swept  away,  so  that  what  remains  of  it  often  terminates 
abruptly  in  old  river-cliffs,  besides  being  covered  by  a 
newer  unstratified  drift.  To  explain  these  changes,  I 
should  infer  considerable  oscillations  in  the  level  of  the 
land  in  that  part  of  France — slow  movements  of  upheaval 
and  subsidence,  deranging  but  not  wholly  displacing  the 
course  of  the  ancient  rivers.  Lastly,  the  disappearance  of 
the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  and  other  genera  of  quadrupeds 
now  foreign  to  Europe,  implies,  in  like  manner,  a  vast 
lapse  of  ages,  separating  the  era  in  which  the  fossil  imple- 
ments were  framed  and  that  of  the  invasion  of  Gaul  by  the 
Romans."  (Athenaeum  for  September  24th,  1859,  p.  404.) 
In  this  whole  statement,  it  will  be  observed,  there  are 
three  several  classes  of  deposit  adduced,  in  connection  with 
the  supposed  age  of  mankind.  That  of  the  cavern  accu- 
mulations, that  of  the  volcanic  region  of  Central  France, 
and  that  of  the  diluvian  or  modified  drift-beds  of  the  Somme 
Yalley,  and  of  corresponding  localities  in  England,  and 
perhaps  elsewhere.  Each  of  these  it  is  proper  to  examine 
with  as  much  fullness  yet  succinctness  as  may  comport  with 
a  fair  elucidation  of  truth. 


216  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Before  doing  so,  however,  we  direct  attention  to  the 
general  conclusion  derived  by  the  eminent  philosopher  from 
all  the  instances  together.  It  is  given  in  a  double  form : 
first,  in  connection  with  the  cave  deposits,  which  are  said 
"to  make  it  probable  that  man  was  old  enough  to  have  co- 
existed, at  least,  with  the  Siberian  mammoth;"  and,  second, 
as  an  inference  from  the  circumstances  attending  the  Abbe- 
ville and  Amiens  flint  instruments,  which  "imply,"  he  con- 
siders, "  a  vast  lapse  of  ages,  separating  the  era  in  which 
those  fossil  implements  were  framed,  and  that  of  the  in- 
vasion of  Gaul  by  the  Romans,"  or  which,  as  previously 
expressed  in  another  form,  induce  him  to  "believe  the 
antiquity  of  those  instruments  to  be  great  indeed  if  com- 
pared to  the  times  of  history  and  tradition." 

On  this  general  conclusion  these  remarks  occur;  first, 
everything  like  dogmatic  decision  is,  with  accustomed  pro- 
priety, avoided  by  this  distinguished  observer.  He  thinks  a 
certain  result  rendered  "probable,"  "implied,"  by  given 
circumstances,  and  therefore  he  "infers,"  and  "believes;" 
but  there  is  no  positive  dictum,  no  arrogant  disregard  of 
other  and  what  may  be  more  than  counterbalancing  oppo- 
site evidence.  Every  term  employed  involves  more  or  less 
a  consciousness  of  liability  to  error,  something  of  lingering 
doubt  in  the  mind,  and  leaves  room  for  subsequent  cor- 
rection. 

Next,  the  indefinite  expressions  applied  to  the  antiquity 
supposed  differ  widely  from  the  specifications  of  Millenia 
attempted  in  the  instances  already  examined.  The  several 
phrases  certainly  denote,  on  the  part  of  the  learned  in- 


THE   AGE    OP   MANKIND.  21  f 

vestigator,  an  opinion  which  we  are  satisfied  can  be  proved 
extreme  if  not  wholly  erroneous.  Still,  taken  together, 
and  regarded  as  modifying  each  other,  we  do  not  know 
that  these  expressions,  even  in  the  sense  of  their  author, 
necessarily  involve  any  greater  extension  of  the  past  human 
period  than,  as  will  presently  appear,  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves seem  to  authorize.  Several  decades  of  centuries  might, 
perhaps,  as  we  shall  see,  be  admitted  here,  or  in  any  other 
case,  on  adequate  grounds,  without  violence  to  the  sacred 
records,  or  to  the  great  facts  of  human  history.  Such 
interval  would  undoubtedly,  as  an  item  in  man's  past  ex- 
istence, be,  if  not  hyperbolically  "  a  vast  lapse  of  ages," 
yet  soberly  "a  period  great  indeed  if  compared  with  the 
times  of  (authentic  profane)  history  or  tradition,"  and 
might  readily  leave  man  "old  enough  to  have  coexisted,  at 
least,  with  the  Siberian  mammoth." 

This  moderate  range,  however,  while  apparently  not 
commensurate  with  Lyell's  inferences,  would  not,  it  may  be 
confidently  assumed,  satisfy  the  exorbitant  demands  of  a 
large  class  of  Scripture  opponents.  It  becomes,  therefore, 
doubly  proper  to  examine  in  detail  the  reasons  given  by 
so  influential  a  writer  for  his  opinion,  and  to  exhibit  the 
grounds  of  a  different  estimate.  The  reader  will  judge  on 
which  side  lies  the  truth. 

How  far  the  latest  cave-evidence  alone  would  have  in- 
fluenced Lyell's  mind  it  may  not  be  possible  to  determine. 
His  own  words  respecting  it  are  characteristically  cautious. 
Recent  facts  reported  by  Falconer,  from  the  Brixham  Cave, 
"have  prepared"  him  and  others  "to  admit  that  skepticism," 

19 


218  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

in  regard  to  such  "evidence  in  favor  of  human  antiquity, 
had  been  pushed  to  an  extreme."  He  "now"  considers 
man's  being  "old  enough  to  have  coexisted,  at  least,  with 
the  Siberian  mammoth,"  a  legitimate  deduction  "from  cave 
instances"  "already  acccumulated,"  only  to  be  escaped  by 
supposing  "changes  in  the  level  of  regions  where  the  caves 
are  situated,  which  "alone  imply  a  remote  antiquity  for  the 
human  fossil  remains." 

As  to  this  last  suggestion,  of  an  extended  age  being 
implied  in  great  and  repeated  changes  of  level;  a  sug- 
gestion also  applied,  it  will  be  remembered,  to  the  appear- 
ances of  the  Somme  Valley,  we  shall  of  course  make  no 
issue,  so  far  as  the  general  truth  is  concerned.  The  entire 
range  of  geological  phenomena  unquestionably  proves  that, 
on  the  whole,  vast  elevations  and  depressions  of  land  or 
sea  have  required  for  their  development  immense  periods ; 
that  the  superficial  structure  admitting,  and  the  internal 
forces  producing  them,  exist  on  a  scale,  arid  operate  under 
conditions,  which  make  time  an  important  element  toward 
the  final  result.  (See  particularly  on  the  subject,  Hitch- 
cock's able  paper  in  the  Smithsonian  Contributions  to 
Knowledge,  vol.  ix.)  But  as  to  the  invariable  application 
of  this  general  law  to  all  cases  of  considerable  change, 
supposing  such  established,  so  as  to  found  thereon  any- 
thing like  a  reliable  conclusion  in  a  question  so  much  con- 
troverted, and  so  important  as  that  respecting  the  age  of 
mankind,  we  are  by  abundant  and  undeniable  facts  author- 
ized confidently  to  raise  the  most  unequivocal  issue.  The 
truth  is,  this  seems  to  be,  like  his  persistent  opposition  to 


THE   AGE   OF    MANKIND.  219 

the  doctrine  of  internal  heat,  established  by  so  many  facts, 
and  received  by  such  philosophers  as  Humboldt  as  scarcely 
less  certain  than  the  conclusions  of  astronomy,  one  of  the 
instances  in  which  Lyell,  with  all  his  ability  and  attain- 
ments, exhibits  participation  in  the  weaknesses  of  human- 
ity,— a  case  in  which  he  pushes  to  an  erroneous  extreme 
his  favorite  theory  of  the  sameness  of  terrestrial  energies 
in  different  ages.  He  has  witnessed  and  described  the 
slow  emergence  of  the  shores  of  Northern  Europe,  at  the 
rate  of  from  one  to  three  feet  in  a  century,  (Principles  of 
Geology,  vol.  ii.  p.  280,)  and  the  fact  is  too  readily  general- 
ized, too  specifically  applied.  Even  such  a  rate,  however, 
might  introduce,  in  no  very  long  time,  all  the  changes  of 
level  alleged  as  necessary  to  be  supposed  if  the  cave-evi- 
dence is  to  be  harmonized  with  a  moderate  human  period. 
This  single  consideration  seems  at  once  to  neutralize  a 
main  element  of  the  great  geologist's  difficulty. 

But  the  case  is  very  much  stronger  against  his  inferences. 
For,  while  the  land  is  thus  in  our  day  rising  in  Northern 
Europe,  it  appears  to  be  sinking  on  the  shores  of  the  Med- 
iterranean. Breislack  mentions  (Mantell's  Wonders  of 
Geology,  vol.  i.  p.  118,)  that  "numerous  remains  of  build- 
ings are  to  be  seen  in  the  Gulf  of  Baias;  ten  columns  of 
granite,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Nuovo,  are  nearly  covered 
by  the  sea,  as  are  the  ruins  of  a  palace  built  by  Tiberius  in 
the  Island  of  Caprea.  Thus  while  the  level  of  the  sea  is 
becoming  lower  in  the  North  from  the  elevation  of  the  land, 
it  is  rising  in  the  Mediterranean  from  the  sinking  of  its 
coasts."" 


220  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOE   THE   BIBLE. 

Nor  is  this  all ;  but  snch  changes  may  take  place,  and  do 
take  place,  at  times,  much  more  rapidly,  and  over  immense 
tracts  of  country,  so  as  utterly  to  forbid,  as  derived 
from  them  alone,  all  sweeping  generalizations  respecting  a 
mighty  past  for  mankind.  A  region  of  country  along  the 
western  coast  of  South  America,  equal  in  extent  to  half  of 
France,  experienced  thus  a  considerable  elevatory  move- 
ment in  1822-3,  and  again  in  1835 :  the  result,  including 
effects  of  previous  but  recent  similar  disturbances,  being  a 
total  elevation  of  more  than  fifty  feet.  (Mantell,  vol.  i.  p. 
112.)  Nor  let  it  be  said  that  these  movements  occur  only 
in  the  vicinity  of  active  volcanoes.  In  such  relations  they 
may  of  course  be  most  commonly  looked  for,  but  not  ex- 
clusively there.  As  all  countries  exhibit  proofs  of  such 
action  in  the  distant  past  of  the  world's  chronology,  so  the 
present  constitution  of  the  earth's  crust  seems  to  be  such,  and 
such  the  condition  of  its  internal  forces,  that  no  extensive 
region  can  be  pronounced  at  any  time  exempt  from  liability 
to  agitations  of  the  kind.  Indeed,  comparatively  modern 
instances  are  not  unfamiliar.  The  instructive  author  last 
quoted  says  of  them  that  they  "occur  in  almost  every  part 
of  the  world,  and  there  is  perhaps  no  considerable  extent 
of  country  which  does  not  afford  some  proof  that  similar 
physical  mutations  have  taken  place  in  modern  times." 
The  case  of  the  British  coast,  from  Brighton  to  Rotting- 
dean,  he  adduces  and  examines,  with  this  result,  (p.  115:) 
"Here  then  we  have  unquestionable  evidence  that  the 
Sussex  shores  have  been  subjected  to  changes  similar  to 
those  produced  by  earthquakes  on  the  Chilian  coast." 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND  221 

With  these  facts  in  view,  it  is  plainly  delusive  to  attempt 
to  rest  an  estimate  of  prodigious  antiquity  for  mankind 
on  the  mere  circumstance  of  even  considerable  changes  of 
level. 

In  reference,  however,  to  these  and  other  questions  con- 
nected with  the  cave  accumulations,  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  main  facts  have  been  for  a  number  of  years 
familiar  to  leading  scientific  minds,  without,  in  their  esti- 
mation, necessitating  any  such  conclusion  as  that  now  in- 
dicated by  Lyell.  Dr.  Leidy,  assuredly  as  unprejudiced 
in  favor  of  our  views  as  he  is  well-informed  and  able,  was 
fur  from  ignorant  of  the  general  cave-indications,  when,  in 
1857,  in  language  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  quote, 
he  affirmed  with  a  decision  as  honorable  to  his  candor  as  to 
his  intelligence,  "the  numerous  facts  which  have  been 
brought  to  our  notice  touching  the  discovery  of  human 
bones,  and  rude  implements  of  art,  in  association  with  the 
remains  of  animals  of  the  earlier  pleiocene  deposits,  are 
not  conclusive  evidence  of  their  contemporaneous  exist- 
ence." A  conviction  almost  identical  with  this  has,  by  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  himself,  been  avowed  and  defended  up  to  the 
present  time.  It  is  even  alluded  to  in  his  recent  address 
Nor  does  he  therein  intimate  what  decisive  peculiarity, 
what  experimentum  crucis  in  the  case  of  the  Brixham  Cave, 
co-operated  with  the  Abbeville  and  Amiens  flint  hatchets, 
etc.,  to  shake  his  long-settled  judgment.  We  are  at 
liberty,  therefore,  in  the  absence  of  such  special  explana- 
tion of  that  instance,  to  suppose  that  though  in  some 
respects,  perhaps,  more  striking  than  other  receptacles  of 

10* 


SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

the  kind,  it  furnished  no  conclusive  additional  proof,  nothing 
decisive  of  its  own  authority,  or  of  the  cave-evidence  in 
general,  toward  a  real  determination  of  human  antiquity. 

Of  this  general  evidence  the  value  may,  therefore,  be 
still  reasonably  estimated  by  each  considerate  mind,  in  view 
of  the  leading  facts.  They  are  well  summed  up  by  Man- 
tell,  (vol.  i.  p.  184.)  "As  mankind,  in  an  uncivilized  state, 
commonly  inhabit  caves,  traces  of  their  having  occupied 
recesses  which  had  previously  been  the  retreat  of  wild 
animals,  might  be  expected.  But  as  bones  of  extinct 
species  occurred  with  these  relics  of  man,  it  was  assumed 
that  they  were  coeval  with  each  other ;  more  accurate  ob- 
servations have,  however,  rendered  it  probable  that  the 
human  remains  were  introduced  at  a  later  period.  "We 
have  historical  proof  that  the  early  inhabitants  of  Europe 
often  resided,  or  sought  shelter  in  caves.  Thus  Florus 
records  that  CaBsar  ordered  the  inhabitants  of  Aquitania 
to  be  inclosed  and  suffocated  in  the  caverns  to  which  they 
had  fled  for  safety,  (an  atrocious  cruelty  imitated  in  Algeria 
within  our  time  by  the  troops  and  commander  of  a  so-called 
Christian  nation !)  Many  tribes  of  the  Celtic  race  occu- 
pied these  subterranean  retreats,  not  only  as  a  refuge  in 
time  of  war,  but  also  for  shelter  from  cold,  and  as  magazines 
for  their  corn,  and  for  the  products  of  the  chase,  and  as 
places  of  concealment  for  the  animals  they  had  domesti- 
cated. The  bones  of  such  of  these  people  as  perished,  or 
were  buried  in  the  caverns,  would  become  blended  with  the 
mud,  gravel,  and  debris  of  the  animals  already  entombed ; 
and  a  stalagmite  paste  might  in  some  places  be  formed  by 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  223 

the  infiltration  of  water,  as  at  Bize,  and  cement  the  whole 
into  a  solid  aggregate.  In  concretionary  masses  of  stone 
of  this  kind,  containing  bones  of  the  bear  and  other  ex- 
tinct species,  human  bones,  fragments  of  pottery,  terrestrial 
shells,  and  bones  of  animals  of  modern  times,  may  there- 
fore be  associated.  Some  of  the  bones  found  in  these 
accumulations  exhibit  marks  of  having  been  gnawed, 
probably  by  hyenas ;  they  belong  to  the  tiger,  bear,  wolf, 
fox,  weasel,  elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  horse,  ox, 
and  deer,  imbedded  with  which  are  also  bones  of  a  species 
of  hare  or  rabbit,  water-rat,  and  mouse,  with  fragments 
of  the  skeletons  of  ravens,  pigeons,  larks,  and  ducks  .  .  . 
From  these  facts  it  is  inferred  that  such  caves  had  been 
inhabited  by  hyenas  for  a  considerable  period,  and  that 
many  of  the  remains  found  there  were  species  which  had 
been  carried  in  and  devoured  by  these  animals,  and  that  in 
some  instances  the  hyenas  preyed  upon  each  other.  The 
gnawed  portions  of  elephants'  bones  serve  to  show  that 
occasionally  the  large  mammalia  served  as  food.  It  is 
probable  that  many  of  the  smaller  animals  were  drifted  in 
by  currents,  or  fell  into  the  chasm  through  fissures  now 
closed  by  stalactitical  incrustations.  .  .  .  Such  are  the  con- 
tents of  numerous  caves,  and  this  explanation  shows  how 
they  may  have  been  accumulated." 

The  view  thus  presented  seems  satisfactorily  sustained  by 
the  most  recent  instances.  Of  the  bone-cave  at  Brixham, 
Devonshire,  referred  to  by  Lyell,  Prof.  Owen,  in  his  "Palae- 
ontology," just  issued,  says  (p.  136)  that,  "during  its  careful 
exploration  by  a  committee  of  the  Geological  Society  of 


224  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS  FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

London,  in  1858-9,  a  stone  weapon  or  implement  (of  hu- 
man construction)  was  met  with  beneath  a  fine  antler  of  a 
reindeer,  and  a  bone  of  the  cave-bear,  imbedded  in  the 
superficial  stalagmite."  And  he  adds,  "Dr.  Falconer, 
F.  G.  S.,  has  communicated  (proceedings  of  the  Geologi- 
cal Society,  June  22, 1859,)  the  results  of  his  examination 
of  ossiferous  caves  at  Palermo ;  and,  in  respect  to  the  '  Ma- 
ceognone  Cave,'  he  draws  the  following  inferences  :  'That 
it  was  filled  up  to  the  roof  within  the  human  period,  so  that 
a  thick  layer  of  bone-splinters,  teeth,  land-shells,  coprolites 
of  hyena,  and  human  objects,  was  agglutinated  to  the  roof 
by  the  infiltration  of  water  holding  lime  in  solution ;  that 
subsequently,  and  within  the  human  period,  such  a  great 
amount  of  change  took  place  in  the  physical  configuration 
of  the  district  as  to  have  caused  the  cave  to  be  washed  out 
and  emptied  of  its  contents,  excepting  the  floor-breccia  and 
the  patches  of  material  cemented  to  the  roof,  and  since 
coated  with  additional  stalagmite.'" 

This  whole  class  of  indications,  therefore,  clearly  exhibits 
nothing  to  prove  the  supposed  enormous  human  period, 
but  tends  instructively  to  an  opposite  conclusion. 

On  the  case  of  the  few  remains  found  in  the  volcanic  dis- 
trict of  central  France,  we  need  not  dwell.  Ly ell's  own  state- 
ment suffices.  That  Mr.  Scrope,  after  fuller  examination, 
had  ceased  to  rely  upon  their  previously  imagined  age,  and 
that  he  has  himself  ''failed  to  obtain  satisfactory  evidence 
in  favor  of  the  remote  antiquity  assigned  them."  But 
this  very  avowal,  so  creditable  to  the  philosopher's  fairness 
of  mind,  in  view  of  the  bias  his  judgment  was  experiencing 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  225 

from  other  quarters,  suggests  the  significant  fact,  that  opin- 
ions of  scientific  men  on  minute  particulars  of  this  kind 
are,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  case  must  be,  exceedingly 
variant,  and  should  therefore  be  received  with  caution  and 
canvassed  with  freedom.  While  some  geologists  have  dis- 
puted the  relation  of  these  remains  to  the  issue  claimed, 
M.  Aymard,  M.  Pictet,  Mr.  Scrope,  and  others,  have  ac- 
cepted them  as  decisive;  yet  the  latter  gentleman  finds 
reason  to  modify  his  first  impressions,  and  his  illustrious 
friend  discovers  in  all  the  circumstances  at  last  "no  satis- 
factory evidence  I"  A  more  striking  illustration  of  the  un- 
reliableness  of  single  instances,  of  inferences  and  dicta 
founded  thereon,  and  of  the  mere  authority  of  individual 
names,  need  not  be  desired. 

The  old  flint  instruments  lately  discovered  in  the  Sornme 
Valley,  and  kindred  deposits  found  or  supposed  to  exist  in 
other  localities  similarly  situated,  in  connection  with  a 
leaning  he  has  acquired  toward  a  late  development-hypoth- 
esis, presently  to  be  noticed,  after  all,  plainly  constitute 
the  main  ground  of  Lyell's  new  impressions  as  to  the  long 
ages  of  man's  past  existence.  The  other  cases  are  to  this, 
apparently,  but  as  the  feather  that  turns  the  balance  al- 
ready weighted,  the  drop  that  overflows  the  goblet  just 
quivering  to  the  full.  Yet  in  the  Amiens  case,  etc.,  Lyell's 
inferences  seem  certainly  more  than  a  little  extreme.  Not 
that  we  mean  to  question  the  general  credit  due  to  the 
opinion  of  such  a  man  as  to  the  character,  in  the  main,  of 
deposits  he  has  personally  inspected;  but,  that  we  must 
maintain  he  is  very  far  from  infallible,  and  that  the  argu- 


226  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

ments  on  which  he  here  rests  his  conclusion  are  delusive. 
He  seems  to  go  considerably  farther  than  Mr.  Prestwick, 
a  gentleman  regarded  as  possessing  superior  qualifications 
for  a  reliable  estimate.  "After  a  careful  study  of  the  geo- 
logical relations  of  this  (Somme  Valley)  bed,  he,"  says 
Prof.  Owen  in  his  recent  work,  (Paleontology,)  "refers  it 
to  the  post-pleiocene  age ;  and  to  a  period  anterior  to  the 
surface  assuming  its  present  outline,  so  far  as  some  of  its 
minor  features  are  concerned."  This,  it  will  be  perceived, 
is  much  more  general  and  moderate  than  Lyell's  "vast 
lapse  of  ages,"  etc.  Nor  does  it  at  all  necessarily  involve 
an  enormous  human  period. 

In  presenting  his  reasons  for  inferring  from  the  deposits 
of  the  Somme  Valley  an  immensely  long  human  term,  Lyell 
lays  great  stress  upon  "the  wearing  down  of  the  chalk 
which  supplied  the  broken  flints  for  the  formation  of  so 
much  gravel  at  various  heights,  sometimes  100  feet  above 
the  present  level  of  the  river,  .  .  .  and  for  the  denudation 
which  the  entire  mass  of  stratified  drift  has  undergone,  etc. 
To  explain  which  changes  (he)  infers  considerable  oscilla- 
tions of  level,"  etc. 

Now  to  these  several  particulars  in  themselves  we 
have  not  one  word  of  objection  to  offer.  Yet  we  beg 
leave,  most  confidently,  to  demur  to  their  application  here 
in  evidence  of  any  reliable  trace  of  a  prolonged  human 
age.  And  their  being  so  applied  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell  is, 
and  to  the  reader  must,  we  think,  appear,  when  his  atten- 
tion is  directed  to  the  facts,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
instances  either  of  unguarded  expression,  suggesting  a  seri- 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  221 

ous  error,  or  of  inconsistent  judgment,  ever  adventured 
by  a  philosopher  of  world-wide  renown.  That  there  have 
been,  in  the  remote  past,  mighty  and  long-continued  agen- 
cies operating  on  these  old  cliffs  of  early  drift,  and  upon  the 
older  chalk  that  supports  them,  who  can  doubt?  Agen- 
cies of  water — dashing,  dissolving,  denuding,  crushing, 
rounding,  and  readjusting  ancient  structures— and  agencies 
lifted  or  lowered,  it  may  well  have  been,  by  the  internal 
forces  supposed.  Nor  does  it  in  one  iota  affect  the  pres- 
ent question,  how  long  all  those  agencies  may  have  thus 
operated.  But  is  it  not  marvelous  that  Lyell  should, 
whether  intentionally  or  not,  drag  them  into  the  human 
period,  or  thrust  it  into  them,  as  he  has  done  ? 

In  some  of  the  gravel  thus  anciently  and  mightily 
scooped,  as  great  flint  nodules,  out  of  vast  chalk-barriers, 
and  crushed  into  fragments,  and  then  ground,  and  rolled, 
and  polished  by  resistless  power,  he  finds  old  stone -imple- 
ments, wrought  by  human  hands,  still  retaining  such  dis- 
tinctive marks  that  not  only  can  their  original  purposes 
be  for  the  most  part  discerned,  but  even  some  difference 
between  the  culture  of  the  tribe  that  produced  them  and 
that  of  the  Celtic  family  in  general,  is  inferred,  by  Lyell 
himself,  as  by  M.  De  Perthes  and  others,  from  their  peculiar- 
ities. And  yet  these  implements  belong  to  the  age  of  the 
formation  of  that  gravel  I  The  venerable  and  potent  energy 
that  through  ages  of  strenuous  action  irresistibly  reduced 
it,  all  that  while  laid  gently  deferential  and  kindly  careful 
hands  upon  them;  shielded  from  assault  alike  their  sub- 
stance and  their  shape,  and  kept  them  unharmed  in  the 


223  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

quiet  resting-places  where  they  had  dropped  from  the 
fainting  grasp  of  their  artificers !  Sir  Charles  Lyell  cer- 
tainly does  not  believe  this.  Nobody  can  believe  it.  And 
strange  as  it  is  that  so  genuinely  scientific  a  man,  and  one 
usually  so  careful,  should  have  made  so  serious  a  mistake, 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  he  has  here  thus  erred ;  and 
that  the  clear  exhibition  of  this  goes  very  far  toward  reducing 
into  moderate  limits  his  extreme  inferences  respecting  the  age 
of  mankind.  Can  anything  be  more  indubitably  evident  than 
that,  had  these  human  instruments  been  in  existence  in  that 
region  during  the  extended  period  of  agitating  energy  sug- 
gested, exposed  to  all  the  violent  action  alleged  to  have 
worn  down  the  old  diluvial  cliffs,  washed  the  flints  out  of 
chalk,  crushed  them,  and  rounded  them  into  prodigious  piles 
of  pebbles,  they  too  must  have  been  indefinitely  abraded, 
broken,  rolled,  and  reduced  undistinguishably  into  pebbles 
or  paste  ?  The  fact  that  nothing  of  the  kind  has  happened 
with  them,  that  not  one  trace  of  any  such  long  course  of 
rough  treatment  is  left  upon  their  structure  or  dimensions, 
dispels  in  an  instant  the  magnificent  illusion  of  the  re- 
nowned Englishman's  hypothesis  as  to  the  age  of  those 
buried  hatchets  and  of  their  fashioners,  the  venerable 
Celts. 

Those  instruments,  beyond  peradventure,  had  never  seen 
the  light  when  the  ages  of  heaving  and  dashing  were  roll- 
ing on,  supposed  by  the  philosopher.  The  eyes  beneath 
whose  gaze  they  were  shaped  never  surveyed,  the  hands 
that  wrought  them  never  buffeted  those  continued  and 
mighty  surges.  We  need  no  prophetic  voice  reaching 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  229 

through  the  past  to  tell  us  this,  no  authoritative  utter- 
ance of  some  venerated  sage  of  science  to  affirm  it.  The 
etones  themselves  give  forth  the  declaration  with  a  clear- 
ness of  statement  not  to  be  misunderstood.  It  is  patent  in 
the  very  revelations  adduced  by  Lyell  from  the  gravel  pits 
of  the  Somme  Yalley. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  inconsistency  in  these  inferences  of  the 
great  geologist.  He  supposes  the  age  of  the  implements 
in  question  immensely  remote,  because,  moreover,  numbers 
of  them  are  buried  beneath  so  many  feet  of  mud,  sand, 
clay,  etc.,  and  it  must  take  a  great  while,  "in  comparison 
with  the  ages  of  history  and  tradition,"  "  for  the  deposi- 
tion of  so  much  fine  sediment,  including  entire  shells,  both 
terrestrial  and  aquatic."  Yet  there  is  "nothing  that  might 
not  be  due  to  such  river-floods  as  we  have  witnessed  in 
Scotland  during  the  last  half  century  I" 

But  even  this  is  not  all.  There  is,  if  possible,  a  still 
stranger  self  contradiction  in  these  inferences  of  the  eminent 
Briton.  He  finds  those  mighty  agencies,  through  so  long 
a  period,  tearing  and  wearing  in  this  valley,  and  those 
river-floods  tenderly  putting  to  rest  little  shells  in  slowly 
settled  inclosures  of  sand — and,  coexisting  with  all  this, 
during  the  same  measureless  ages  imagined,  "a  tribe  of 
savages  making  a  long  sojourn  in  this  (identical)  region." 
Shaping  and  depositing  their  strange  implements,  with 
the  successive  ages,  just  as  the  floods  do  their  layers  of 
mud,  and  in  those  ascending  beds,  now  thirty,  now  seven- 
teen, and  now  ten  feet  below  what  has  become  the  surface 
of  our  time  I  If  Sir  Charles  Lyell  does  not  mean  this,  his 

20 


230  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

supposition  on  the  point  is  inconsequential.  If  he  does 
mean  it,  he  seems  to  endow  with  very  wonderful  qualities 
a  tribe  of  early  savages,  who  could  witness  all  those  sublim- 
ities, brave  all  those  vicissitudes,  and  emerging,  genera- 
tion after  generation,  through  so  many  overwhelming  floods 
that  had  been  certain  destruction  to  other  mortals,  could 
cling  with  undying  fondness  to  the  home  of  their  fathers, 
and,  spite  of  all  recurring  desolations,  await  there  the 
time  of  their  own  tardy  extinction ! 

There  is  an  explanation  of  all  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  those  old  flint  instruments,  we  venture  to  sug- 
gest, which  brings  them  readily  within  the  moderate  period 
commonly  accredited  as  man's  past  term.  They  occur,  it 
should  be  noticed,  in  a  low  river  valley ;  a  fact  which  of 
itself  indicates  that  the  accumulations  are  not  original 
diluvium  or  drift  of  at  least  the  early  part  of  the  long 
post-pleiocene  age  supposed  by  Lyell,  but  that  they  are  all 
secondary  rearrangements  which  the  river  has  made  of 
those  old  materials.  Suppose  the  pebbles  thus  produced 
during  the  agitations  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  drift-period, 
and  somewhere  near  in  the  deposits  of  a  later  division  of 
that  cycle,  collections  of  relics  belonging  to  the  larger  mam- 
malia: suppose,  also,  some  old  Celtic  tribe  of  a  subse- 
quent age,  yet  of  centuries  before  Cresar,  if  you  please,  to 
have  occupied  for  a  considerable  time  what  they  deemed  a 
secure  part  of  this  fertile  district,  heaping  their  debris  for 
generations  in  some  such  way  as  that  of  the  Indian  mound 
in  Georgia,  referred  to  by  Lyell :  then  suppose  some  of 
those  unusual  seasons  to  occur,  of  which  repeated  instances 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  231 

are  known  in  modern  history,  or  some  such  change  in  the 
river-bed  as  is  now  not  unfrequently  witnessed,  and  in  con- 
sequence floods  a.t  various  intervals  to  invade,  here  the 
human  heap,  and  there  the  diluvial  pile,  how  immediately 
would  the  several  elements  begin  to  be  mingled,  scattered, 
and  readjusted,  precisely  as  they  are  found  to  be  in  the 
deposits  around  those  low-standing  cities  on  the  northeast- 
ern border  of  the  British  Channel ! 

Nor  is  this  mere  supposition.  The  broad  facts  of  the  case 
exhibited  in  the  "Antiquites"  of  M.  De  Perthes  would  seem 
satisfactorily  to  indicate  this  as  the  actual  process. 

In  the  first  place,  he  shows  (vol.  i.  p.  165)  that  the 
valley-surface  about  and  between  the  two  cities,  with  trifling 
inequalities,  possesses  "an  average  or  mean  elevation  of 
only  some  two  metres  (less  than  seven  feet)  above  the 
present  level  of  the  river." 

In  the  next  place,  he  details  a  number  of  circumstances 
which  prove,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  stream  and  its  bor- 
ders now  stand  at  some  appreciable  elevation  above  the 
range  they  occupied  no  very  great  while  ago.  For  in- 
stance, this  section  exhibits  the  ascertained  condition  of 
things  near  one  of  the  gates  of  Abbeville.  (Vol.  i.  p.  188.) 

A  mere  glance  at  the  cut  suffices  to  show  a  change  of  a 
good  many  feet  in  the  relative  level  of  the  river  and  its 
surroundings  since  the  sepultures  were  deposited  in  the  peat 
d,  and  especially  since  the  wooden  frame-work  between  / 
and  h  was  constructed ;  and  yet  the  comparatively  recent 
age  of  those  sepultures  and  that  frame-work,  as  will  pres- 
ently be  seen,  is  indubitable. 


232 


SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOE   THE    BIBLE. 


Plan  of  the  deposits  at  Portelette,  showing  their  arrange- 
ment, and  the  sepultures  they  contain. 


The  arrow  indicates  the  present 
level  of  the  Somme.  Depth 
about  ten  feet.  - 

a.  Alluvial  and  vegetable  earth. 

b.  Calcareous    tufa,   porus    and 

friable,  containing  hard  and 
compact  masses. 

c.  Very  fine  blue  sand. 

d.  Peat,    containing  Celtic     se- 


pultures, designated  by  the 
marks. 

e.  Another  bed  of  muddy  sand. 
/.  Alluvial  detritus,  rounded  -si- 
lex,  etc. 

g.  Foundation  chalk-bed. 
Between   /    and    A,    open-work 
platforms  of  rough  oak  planks 
or  beams,  trimmed  apparently 
with  stone  instruments. 


THE   AGE   OF    MANKIND.  233 

Certain  circumstances,  indicating  how  the  river  floods 
have  been  quieted  in  the  vicinity  of  both  these  cities,  so  as 
to  occasion  immense  deposits  of  less  weighty  matter,  are 
brought  to  notice  in  an  extract  quoted  (p.  223)  from  a 
Geological  Memoir,  by  M.  Ravin,  on  the  basin  of  Amiens. 
"It  is  in  the  broadest  and  lowest  localities  of  the  Somme 
Yalley  where  the  waters  were  deepest  and  least  agitated, 
in  the  sites  at  this  day  occupied  by  Abbeville  and  Amien-s, 
that  those  old  bones,  etc.,  are  accumulated  in  the  greatest 
number.  They  have  been  deposited  with  the  alluvium  of 
that  epoch,  at  the  mouths  of  the  larger  tributaries  which 
then  emptied  into  such  lakes;  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Celle  with  the  Somme,  on  the  southwest  of  Amiens;  and 
at  that  of  the  Scardon,  toward  Menchecourt  at  Abbe- 
ville. 

The  rate  at  which  this  process  of  filling  up,  this  exten- 
sive change,  has  been  going  on  in  modern  times,  is  evinced 
by  tokens  too  significant  to  be  misunderstood.  One  or 
two  instances  we  present  in  M.  De  Perthes's  own  words, 
(vol.  ii.  p.  126.)  "In  1844,  when  excavations  were  made 
between  the  Somme  and  one  of  the  gates  of  Abbeville,  the 
gate  of  Macarde,  toward  constructing  there  the  founda- 
tions of  a  gasometer,  and  when  a  depth  of  six  metres 
(about  twenty  feet)  below  the  surface  of  the  surrounding 
ground  had  been  reached,  in  a  bed  of  peat,  remains  of 
amphorae,  (well-known  Roman  jars,)  and  other  vases  of 
Roman  or  Gallo-Roman  origin,  were  met  with.  Under  this 
peat  was  a  bed  of  sand,  with  ashes,  charcoal,  funeral  pot- 
20* 


234  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

tery,  and  many  shaped  stones."  These  latter  "indicate," 
thinks  M.  De  Perthes,  perhaps  correctly,  "a  population 
anterior  to  the  Romans,  and  probably  to  the  Gauls."  Xine 
or  ten  years  later,  in  1853,  as  excavations  were  going  on 
in  another  locality,  and  had  reached  a  point  about  seven 
metres  (over  twenty-three  feet)  beneath  the  soil  of  the 
town,  and  say  eighteen  inches  below  the  level  of  the  river, 
the  same  bed  of  peat  was  recognized ;  and  here,  (ibid.,  131,) 
"as  at  the  gasometer,  many  remains  of  amphorae  were  dis- 
covered. But  what  was  not  there  found  presented  itself  in 
this  instance,  a  considerable  quantity  of  that  beautiful  red 
Roman  pottery  of  which  each  piece  bears  the  name  of  the 
potter.  Cianvari,  ma.  Tiiini,  etc.,  etc.  .  .  .  The  amphora 
were  of  different  sizes ;  many  must  have  been  one  metre  in 
height,  and  two  in  circumference,"  (over  a  yard  high  and 
two  feet  in  diameter.) 

Now  with  such  facts  in  view,  the  rationale  which  we 
have  suggested,  of  the  sand  and  gravel  pits  containing, 
variously  associated,  the  mammalian  remains  and  the  old 
hatchets,  etc.,  seems  abundantly  more  satisfactory  than 
the  incongruous  explanation  proposed  by  Lyell.  Especially 
when  some  additional  circumstances  are  taken  into  account, 
connected  with  those  ancient  bones.  "These,"  says  M. 
Baillon,  in  a  letter  to  M.  De  Perthes,  (vol.  i.  p.  224,)  "are 
first  found  at  the  depth  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  the  sands 
of  Menchecourt,  but  they  are  found  in  much  larger  quantity 
at  eighteen  or  twenty  fe-et.  Some  of  them  were  crushed 
before  being  buried.  Others  have  the  angles  rounded,  with- 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  235 

out  doubt  because  they  have  been  rolled  by  the  water?, 
but  they  have  not  been  buried  as  deeply  as  those  which 
have  remained  entire.  These  last  are  disposed  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sandpits."  (Just  as  our  explanation  would 
suppose,  for  these  would  have  been  the  latest  of  the  former 
deposits  in  the  drift  beds,  nearest  the  surface,  least  injured, 
soonest  reached  and  washed  out  by  river  floods,  and  so 
deposited  first  and  unbroken  in  the  Amiens  and  Abbeville 
basins.)  "They  are  entire,  without  fracture  or  friction,  and 
it  is  probable  that  they  were  still  articulated  when  thus 
covered  over.  I  have  found  a  hind  limb  of  the  rhinoceros, 
the  bones  of  which  were  still  in  their  ordinary  relative 
situation.  They  must  have  been  joined  by  their  ligaments, 
and  even  surrounded  with  muscle  at  the  epoch  of  their 
burial.  The  complete  skeleton  of  the  same  animal  lay 
scattered  within  a  short  distance."  Why  these  should  lie 
at  the  bottom  of  the  series,  on  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  theory, 
seems  wholly  inexplicable.  They  should  rather  have  been 
broken  into  minutest  fragments,  and  rolled  into  tiniest  bone 
beads,  if  not  reduced  to  impalpable  powder,  and  borne  off 
irrecoverably  by  the  waters. 

The  general  relation  of  the  deposits  in  the  sand  pits 
may  be  seen  in  the  annexed  section,  (M.  De  Perthes's 
"Antiq.,"  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  234.) 


SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 


a.  Vegetable  earth,  etc. 

b.  Upper  bed  of  silicious  pebbles, 

containing  parcels  of  rolled 
chalk  fragments,  etc. 

c.  Brown     ferruginous     potter's 

clay. 

d.  Marly  clay,  interspersed  with 

silicious  fragments  of  white 
surface. 

e.  Marly  sand,  traversed  by  beds 

of  pea-form  chalk  fragments, 

and  silicious  grit. 
/.  Yellowish  clay  streaked  with 

ochry  sand. 
g.  Bed    of   sharp    yellow    sand, 

rolled  chalk  fragments,  and 

broken  shells. 
h.  Potter's  clay,  veined  gray  and 

yellow,  and   both  pure   and 

sandy. 

t.  A  thin  ochry  vein. 
k.  Alternate  beds   of    gray  and 

white  sand,  and  collections 

of  shells. 

It  is  chiefly  in  this  sand  that 
the  shells  and  bones  are  found. 
L  Lower  bed  of  rolled  silex. 
™™.  Sites    of    discovered    stone 
implements. 

The  arrow  marks  the  river 
level. 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  237 

On  the  hypothesis  of  Lyell,  how  is  it  possible  to  account 
for  the  occnrrence  of  these  stone  instruments  at  depths 
varying  so  widely  as  here  exhibited  ? 

Nor  in  this  view  does  the  idea  of  M.  De  Perthes  seem 
tenable.  His  facts,  carefully  collected  through  years  of 
diligent  research,  after  the  manner  of  Layard  at  Nineveh, 
and  Lepsius  in  Egypt,  are  valuable,  and  entitled  to  atten- 
tive consideration.  But  his  supposition  that  an  antediluvian 
race  shaped  those  ancient  flints,  a  race  here  by  the  deluge 
destroyed  and  buried,  in  common  with  a  world  of  gigantic 
mammifers,  appears  to  be  in  conflict  alike  with  the  dispo- 
sition of  these  beds  and  their  strange  contents,  and  with 
the  general  range  of  facts  in  all  superficial  geology. 
Neither  does  it,  to  our  apprehension,  square  with  the 
scriptural  account  of  the  miraculous  Noachian  flood. 

The  universal  tradition  of  such  a  catastrophe,  found 
wherever  man  now  exists,  insisted  on  by  this  diligent  in- 
vestigator, is  no  doubt  a  striking  confirmation  of  the  scrip- 
tural statement  concerning  the  event  in  question.  And 
some  of  the  traces  of  water-action  on  the  globe  may  pos- 
sibly be  referred  to  that  occasion.  But  while  it  would 
seem  from  the  account  that  no  portion  of  the  human  family 
had  then  so  distantly  wandered,  or,  in  knowledge,  at  least, 
quite  so  far  degenerated,  it  would  also  appear  that  the 
Noachian  waters  arose  too  gently,  remained  too  briefly, 
and  subsided  too  quietly,  to  accomplish  the  abrasions,  sepa- 
rations, and  accumulations  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  wit- 
nessed. The  olive  leaf  (Genesis,  viii.  11)  speaks  instructively 
on  this  subject,  as  does  the  nutriment  found  by  the  crea- 


238  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

tures  with  Noah,  when  (v.  17)  they  went  forth  again 
upon  the  green  earth.  That  the  human  race  (save  one 
family)  then  perished,  together  with  a  vast  number  of  ani- 
mals associated  with  them,  is  rendered  unquestionable ; 
and  that  the  compass  of  the  desolation  must  have  been 
coextensive  with  human  diffusion.  But  that  beyond  this 
the  brute  creation  was  destroyed,  and  all  the  world  over- 
whelmed, is  a  construction  of  the  narrative  not  necessitated 
by  its  hyperbolical  forms  of  speech,  and  distinctly  denied 
by  many  geological  facts.  That  man  previously  dwelt, 
and  was  then  overwhelmed,  and  the  brute  creation  with 
him,  in  Western  Europe,  can  scarcely  be  credited  without 
proof  much  more  substantial  than  has  yet  appeared.  Still, 
this  hypothesis  appears  on  the  whole  considerably  less  im- 
probable than  that  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell.  Especially  in 
connection  with  certain  other  facts  it  may  be  well  to  recall. 
That  immense  mutations,  attended  by  animal  burials  on 
an  enormous  scale,  have  occurred  in  that  part  of  the  world, 
at  no  very  remote  age,  there  are  convincing  proofs.  To 
some  of  these  reference  has  been  made ;  others  are  found  in 
the  numberless  remains  lying  in  the  alluvial  silt  of  the 
Thames  Valley,  and  along  the  east  coast  of  England, 
which  indicate  that  the  British  Islands  were  formerly  in- 
habited by  multitudes  of  elephants  and  other  gigantic  crea- 
tures, and  render  it  (Mantell,  Wonders  of  Geology,  vol.  i. 
p.  149,)  "probable  that  the  land  of  Britain  was  united  to 
the  continent  many  centuries  before  the  Roman  advent." 
The  time  of  this  separation  may  perhaps  be  associated  with 
that  also  indicated  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  Irish  elk,  there 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  239 

in  skeleton  in  surprising  numbers,  tells  of  a  great  change 
in  the  relative  extent  of  land  and  sea,  since  such  herds  of  so 
bulky  a  race  could  not  have  subsisted  in  so  limited  a  dis- 
trict. And  the  known  modern  age,  presently  to  be  shown, 
to  which  specimens  of  this  creature  may  be  traced,  fur- 
nishes a  criterion  for  determining  that  the  mutations  re- 
ferred to  occurred  within  a  comparatively  moderate  period. 
Nor  can  it  be  easily,  we  presume,  if  at  all,  proved,  that  the 
date  of  those  changes  was  more  ancient  than  the  era  at 
which  the  Scriptures,  as  will  be  found,  allow  us  to  reckon 
the  deluge.  Although,  therefore,  so  far  as  time  alone  is 
concerned,  we  might  adopt  this  hypothesis,  still,  for  reasons 
already  intimated,  we  do  not  attribute  to  those  agencies 
and  to  that  epoch  the  appearances  of  the  Somme  Yalley. 

The  considerations  last  adduced  connect  themselves  with 
one  of  the  elements  in  Lyell's  time-argument  yet  to  be 
more  specifically  noticed.  His  allegation  that  "the  disap- 
pearance of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  and  other  genera  of 
quadrupeds,  now  foreign  to  Europe,"  "implies  a  vast  lapse 
of  ages,  separating  the  era  in  which  the  Amiens  flint  in- 
struments were  formed,  and  that  of  the  invasion  of  Gaul  by 
the  Romans." 

This  assumes  as  settled  by  the  circumstances,  that  these 
quadrupeds  coexisted  with  the  fashioners  of  the  Abbeville 
flints.  Whereas  it  may  be  affirmed,  we  think,  with  some 
confidence,  that  such  coexistence  is  anything  but  proved 
by  the  case;  that  the  probabilities  rather  preponderate 
the  other  way.  So  that  this  inference  is,  perhaps,  like  the 
others,  illusory. 


240  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR  THE   BIBLE. 

But  suppose  it  otherwise ;  let  it  be  admitted  here,  let  it 
be  proved,  if  possible,  anywhere,  that  some  of  these  ex- 
tinct mammalia  for  a  season  coexisted  with  man ;  does  it 
necessarily  throw  indefinitely  backward  the  epoch  of  Adam's 
birth  ?  Assuredly  not !  Why  may  not  certain  of  these 
creatures  have  lingered  on  into  the  cycle  succeeding  that 
which  was  distinctly  their  own,  and  to  an  age  that  may 
readily  be  embraced  within  our  received  human  chronology? 
That  theirs  was  in  the  main  an  antecedent  period  is  cer- 
tain. That  the  meridian  of  their  day  had  long  passed  ere 
yet  the  earth  was  given  in  charge  to  human  beings.  But 
that  their  evening  was  closed  before  man's  morning  dawned, 
even  as  registered  in  our  sacred  books,  who  shall  affirm? 
If  the  idea  be  well  founded,  (Mantell,)  that  "the  termina- 
tion of  a  race,  like  the  death  of  individuals,  may  be  the 
natural  and  inevitable  result  of  their  organization,"  the 
disappearance  of  species  and  genera  may  well,  under  the 
divine  laws,  proceed,  as  does  individual  decay,  gradually. 
So  that  the  declining  stage  of  one  group  might  be  pro- 
tracted far  into  the  youthful  term  of  a  higher  race.  Indeed 
there  are  not  wanting  indications  that  it  may  actually  have 
been  so  with  some  of  those  very  extinct  mammalia,  that 
instances  of  their  continuance  may  have  occurred  up  to  a 
date  within  the  accredited  period  of  human  existence. 

The  great  Irish  elk,  for  example,  just  now  mentioned, 
though  unknown  upon  earth  these  many  centuries,  was, 
there  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt,  in  part  contemporary  with 
the  early  human  population  of  the  British  Islands.  "Be- 
sides the  good  state  of  preservation  conspicuous  in  certain 


THE   AGE   OP    MANKIND. 


241 


skeletons  taken  from  marshes,  as  of  Curragh,  Ireland,  a 
skull  of  one  was  discovered  in  Germany,  associated  with 
urns  and  stone  hatchets;  and  in  the  County  of  Cork,  a 
human  body  was  exhumed  from  a  wet  and  marshy  soil,  be- 
neath a  bed  of  peat  eleven  feet  thick,  the  body  in  good 
preservation,  and  enveloped  in  a  deer  skin  covered  with 
hair,  which  appeared  to  be  that  of  the  gigantic  elk.  .  .  . 
Yet  beds  of  gravel  and  sand  containing  recent  species  of 
marine  shells,  with  bones  of  the  Irish  elk,  have  been  ob- 
served in  the  vicinity  of  Dublin  at  an  elevation  of  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  extinct 
quadruped,  though  found  in  peat  bogs  and  marshes  of 
comparatively  very  recent  date,  must  have  been,  therefore, 
an  inhabitant  of  Ireland  antecedently  to  some  of  the  last 
changes  in  the  relative  position  of  land  and  water."  (Man- 
tell.)  But  remains  of  this  creature,  thus  partially  con- 
temporary with  Adam's  descendants,  are  also  in  some 
places  "  found  extensively  associated  with  those  of  the  ex- 
tinct elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  horse,  ox,  deer, 
bear,  and  hyena."  (Ibid.)  Moreover,  "  with  the  relics  of 
such  extinct  animals  are  found  those  of  many  species  which 
still  inhabit  England,  as  the  badger,  otter,  weasel,  and  of 
others  which  are  known  to  have  been  contemporary  with 
the  earliest  British  tribes,  as  the  bear,  boar,  and  wolf." 
(Ibid.)  Nor  is  it  at  all  certain  (see  Sir  R.  J.  Murchison's 
"  Geology  of  Russia")  that  all  the  specimens  of  the  Siberian 
mammoth  had  passed  away  before  the  era  usually  allowed 
for  man's  advent.  So  too  with  the  mastodon  and  other 
gigantic  creatures  whose  remains  have  been  found  associated 

21 


242  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

in  comparatively  recent  deposits  in  North  America :  as  at 
Bigbone  Lick,  in  Kentucky;  in  the  bogs  of  Louisiana;  on 
the  Hudson,  in  New  York,  etc. 

"Even,  then,  if  it  be  admitted,  though  yet  requiring 
proof,"  as  Hitchcock  well  says,  (Smithsonian  Contributions, 
vol.  ix.,  art.  3,  p.  64,)  "that  his  remains  (undisplaced) 
are  found  with  those  of  such  extinct  animals,  this  by  no 
means  throws  back  man's  origin  to  what  is  usually  under- 
stood by  the  drift  period ;  for  many  races  of  animals  have 
disappeared  since  alluvial  agencies  have  been  at  work." 

This  is  corroborated  by  Prof.  Owen's  later  and  signifi- 
cant statement,  (Palaeontology.)  "A  future  generation 
of  geologists  may  have  to  record  the  final  disappearance 
of  the  arctic  buffalo,  (Ovibos  Moschatus.)  Remains  of 
Ovibos  and  Eytena  show  that  they  were  contemporaries  of 
Elephas  primigenius  and  Rhinoceros  tichorrhinus.  But 
recent  discoveries  (as  in  the  Somme  Yalley,  and  previously 
at  Hoxne  in  Suffolk,)  indicate  that  in  the  case  of  the  last 
tw-o  extinct  quadrupeds,  a  rude  primitive  human  race  may 
have  finished  the  work  of  extermination  begun  by  antece- 
dent and  more  general  causes." 

From  a  careful  review,  therefore,  of  the  whole  case  on 
which  Lyell  founds  his  argument  for  the  extreme  antiquity 
of  mankind,  we  submit  with  deference,  but  with  confidence, 
that  his  inferences  are  altogether  unsustained ;  that  the 
question  as  to  the  age  of  our  race  is  left  very  much  where 
it  was  before;  and  that  the  probabilities  suggested  by 
science  still  remain,  that  the  human  term  has  been  about 
what  the  sacred  books,  interpreted  with  neither  rigidness  on 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  243 

the  one  hand  nor  violence  on  the  other,  exhibit.  With  this 
additional  positive  testimony, — the  instances  adduced  cor- 
roborate all  others  in  regard  to  the  great  truth  originally 
set  forth  with  exclusive  and  characteristic  prominence  in 
the  Scriptures,  that,  in  the  language  of  Professor  Owen, 
"  man  is  the  latest  as  he  is  the  highest  creature  known  to 
have  been  called  into  being  on  this  planet." 

Here,  however,  we  meet  another  and  kindred  question 
brought  to  notice  in  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  address  of  Sep- 
tember, 1859,  and  one  which  bears,  as  upon  almost  all 
departments  of  thought  and  inquiry,  so  especially  upon  the 
controversy  respecting  the  age  of  mankind, — the  question 
whether  men  and  other  living  beings  around  them  are 
really  creatures  at  all,  in  any  appreciable  or  practical 
sense;  whether  they  are  not  rather  developments,  which 
nature  has  somehow  in  the  course  of  countless  ages  effected, 
by  the  slow  operation  of  her  laws  changing  some  ancient 
low  organic  form,  equally  unknown  in  its  character  and 
origin,  into,  first,  fish,  then  reptiles,  then  birds,  then  mam- 
malian brutes,  and  finally  into  human  beings ! 

To  this  latter  hypothesis,  discredited  alike  by  the  require- 
ments of  inductive  philosophy,  by  the  established  laws  of 
evidence,  by  the  moral  instincts,  the  individual  aspirations, 
und  the  social  interests  of  mankind,  and  by  all  the  sacred 
realities  of  religion,  Lyell — incredible  as  it  would  have 
appeared,  in  direct  conflict  with  his  own  unretracted  and 
unanswered  arguments,  under  some  strange  influence — has 
permitted  himself  to  lend  at  least  the  qualified  support  of 
his  great  scientific  name.  Alluding  to  the  since  published 


244  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

work  of  Darwin,  on  the  "Origin  of  Species,"  which  had 
then  been  only  in  manuscript  submitted  to  his  inspection, 
he,  in  the  address  referred  to,  used  this  language :  "  On 
this  difficult  and  mysterious  subject,"  (why  so  difficult  and 
mysterious,  we  ask,  except  on  the  assumptions  of  atheistic 
materialism?)  "a  work  will  very  shortly  appear,  by  Mr. 
Charles  Darwin,  the  result  of  twenty  years  of  observation 
and  experiments  in  zoology,  botany,  and  geology,  by  which 
he  has  been  led  to  the  conclusion,  that  those  powers  of 
nature  which  give  rise  to  the  races  and  permanent  varieties 
in  animals  and  plants  are  the  same  as  those  which,  in  much 
longer  periods,  produce  species,  and,  in  a  still  longer  series 
of  ages,  give  rise  to  differences  in  generic  rank.  He 
appears  to  me  to  have  succeeded,  by  his  investigations 
and  reasonings,  in  throwing  a  flood  of  light  on  many  classes 
of  phenomena  connected  with  the  affinities,  geographical 
distribution,  and  geologic  succession  of  organic  beings,  for 
which  no  other  hypothesis  has  been  able,  or  has  even 
attempted  to  account." 

In  this  brief  and  cautious  statement,  Darwin's  theory, 
now  before  the  public,  is  perhaps  as  adequately  represented 
as  was  to  be  expected  in  so  partial  a  notice.  And  yet  from 
it  the  reader  would  gather  not  only  a  very  imperfect,  but  a 
most  erroneous  idea  of  that  theory.  In  the  first  place,  to 
an  attentive  student  of  Darwin's  volume,  it  is  clear  beyond 
all  question  that  his  system,  instead  of  being  a  "conclu- 
sion to  which  he  has  been  led  by  twenty  years  of  observa- 
tion and  experiments,"  etc.,  was  long  ago  with  him  a  fore- 
gone conclusion,  to  the  ingenious  defense  of  which  he  has 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  245 

for  years  devoted  the  resources  of  an  active,  and,  in  one 
direction,  well-furnished  mind ;  an  original  belief,  or  abstract 
conception,  like  a  hundred  others  in  the  history  of  opinion, 
assumed  as  true,  and  then  acted  on  as  a  governing  influ- 
ence in  the  mind,  toward  reducing  into  a  system  accordant 
with  itself  facts  and  phenomena  of  every  kind,  how  incon- 
sistent soever  with  the  assumption ; — a  case  in  principle 
not  unlike  Aristotle's  labored  ratiocination  in  defense  of  the 
old  idea  of  the  incorruptibility  of  the  heavens.  In  the 
next  place,  the  monstrous  character  of  Darwin's  "conclu- 
sion," "hypothesis,"  or  whatever  it  may  be  called,  would 
hardly,  save  by  the  most  practiced  minds,  be  imagined 
from  Lyell's  carefully-worded  account  and  approval.  This 
is  the  summing  up  of  the  theorist  himself,  (p.  419,  nearly 
the  last  page  of  his  book:)  "I  believe  that  animals  have 
descended  from  at  most  only  four  or  five  progenitors,  and 
plants  from  an  equal  or  lesser  number.  Analogy  would 
lead  me  one  step  farther,  namely,  to  the  belief  that  all  ani- 
mals and  plants  have  devscended  from  some  one  prototype. 

I  should  infer  that  probably  all  the  organic  beings 

which  have  ever  lived  on  this  earth  have  descended  from 
some  one  primordial  form,  into  which  life  was  first 
breathed"!! 

The  blackness  of  atheism  here  seems  relieved  by  one 
little  ray  of  light,  let  in  through  the  figurative  phrase 
'life  breathed  into  the  one  primordial  form;"  but  exam- 
ination shows  that  it  is  only  a  delusive  phosphorescent 
glimmer  mistaken  for  heaven's  own  beam.  That  "life 

21* 


246  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

breathed,"  is  only  a  figure;  not  supposed  to  represent  any 
real  occurrence  in  the  early  time,  but  only  serving  to 
occupy  attention  and  mislead  thought.  Else  why  its  ap- 
plication to  the  "  one  primordial  form,"  assumed  as  the 
progenitor  of  the  lowest  class  of  vegetable  existences,  no 
less  than  of  the  half-reasoning  brutes  and  the  heaven- 
aspiring  intelligences  by  which  our  planet  has  been  peo- 
pled ? 

Still,  we  do  not  mean  to  charge  absolute  atheism  on  Mr. 
Darwin  or  his  theory.  It  is  due  to  him  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  he  does  once  or  twice  refer  to  a  Deity  as  very 
remotely  concerned  in  the  processes  of  the  universe.  And 
of  the  old  scheme,  which  he  issues  in  renovated  form,  it 
should  be  conceded  that  it  does  not  necessarily  involve  the 
total  negation  of  a  Great  First  Cause,  since  it  is  undenia- 
ble, as  has  been  urged,  that  "  God  might  as  certainly  have 
originated  the  human  species  by  a  law  of  development,  as 
he  maintains  it  by  a  law  of  development." 

But  if  not  absolutely,  the  hypothesis  is  at  least  relatively 
and  practically  atheistic,  and  annihilative  of  some  of  the 
most  important  beliefs  entertained  by  men.  To  this  for  a 
moment  we  direct  attention,  and  then  one  or  two  consider- 
ations will  be  presented,  going  to  show  how  obviously  this 
volume,  notwithstanding  its  high  indorsement,  is  in  the 
truest  sense  unscientific;  how  it  virtually  repudiates  the 
sound  inductive  method  of  inquiry,  and  for  ascertained  fact 
substitutes  imagined  possibility,  ingenious  speculation,  and 
an  enormous  use  of  the  vast  unknown. 

That  any  theory,  whatever  its  scientific  pretensions,  tends 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  247 

to  the  destruction  of  those  essential  convictions  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  individual  character,  social  order,  and 
domestic  happiness,  is  a  consideration  that  ought  assuredly 
to  discredit  it,  and  must  be  regarded  as  adequate  primary 
proof  of  its  being  utterly  untrue.  Let  us  see  how  it  is 
with  Darwin's  development  idea,  indorsed  by  Lyell  in  con- 
nection with  his  impression  that  savage  man  appeared  on 
earth  "  a  vast  series  of  ages"  ago. 

"If,"  as  has  been  well  argued,  "during  a  period  so  vast 
as  to  be  scarce  expressed  by  figures,  the  creatures  now  hu- 
man have  been  rising  by  almost  infinitesimals — from  com- 
pound microscopic  cells,  minute  vital  globules  within  glob- 
ules, begot  by  electricity  on  dead  gelatinous  matter,"  as 
former  developmentarians  held,  or  "from  some  one  primor- 
dial form,"  at  the  unknown  lowest  point  of  the  organic 
scale,  as  Darwin,  with  Lyell's  sanction,  now  holds — until 
they  have  at  length  become  the  men  and  women  whom  we 
see  around  us,  we  must  hold  either  the  monstrous  belief 
that  all  the  vitalities,  whether  those  of  monads  or  of  mites, 
of  fishes  or  of  reptiles,  of  birds  or  of  beasts,  are  individually 
and  inherently  immortal  and  undying,  or  that  human  souls 
are  not  so.  The  difference  between  the  dying  and  undy- 
ing— between  the  spirit  of  the  brute  that  goeth  downward, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  man  that  goeth  upward — is  not  a  dif- 
ference infinitesimally,  or  even  atomically  small.  It  pos- 
sesses all  the  breadth  of  the  eternity  to  come,  and  is  an 
infinitely  great  difference.  It  cannot,  if  one  may  so  ex- 
press it,  be  shaded  off  by  infinitesimals  or  atoms ;  for  it  is 
a  difference  which,  as  there  can  be  no  class  of  beings  inter- 


248  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

mediate  in  their  nature  between  the  dying  and  the  undy- 
ing, admits  not  of  gradation  at  all.  What  mind,  regulated 
by  the  ordinary  principles  of  human  belief,  can  possibly 
hold  that  every  one  of  the  thousand  vital  points  whbh 
swim  in  a  drop  of  stagnant  water,  are  inherently  fitted  to 
maintain  their  individuality  throughout  eternity  ?  Or  how 
can  it  be  rationally  held  that  a  mere  progressive  step,  in 
itself  no  greater  or  more  important  than  that  effected  by 
the  addition  of  a  single  brick  to  a  house'  in  the  building 
state,  or  of  a  single  atom  to  a  body  in  the  growing  state, 
could  ever  have  produced  immortality  ?  And  yet,  if  the 
spirit  of  a  monad  or  of  a  mollusk  be  not  immortal,  then 
must  there  either  have  been  a  point  in  the  history  of  the 
species  at  which  a  dying  brute — differing  from  its  offspring 
merely  by  an  inferiority  of  development,  represented  by  a 
few  atoms,  perhaps  by  a  single  atom — produced  an  undy- 
ing man,  or  man  in  his  present  state  must  be  a  mere  ani- 
mal, possessed  of  no  immortal  soul,  and  as  irresponsible 
for  his  actions  to  the  God  before  whose  bar  he  is,  in  conse- 
quence, never  to  appear,  as  his  presumed  relatives  and 
progenitors,  the  beasts  that  perish.  Nor  will  it  do  to 
attempt  escaping  from  the  difficulty,  by  alleging  that  God, 
at  some  certain  link  in  the  chain,  might  have  converted  a 
mortal  creature  into  an  immortal  existence,  by  breathing 
into  it  "a  living  soul;"  seeing  that  a  renunciation  of  any 
such  direct  interference  on  the  part  of  Deity  in  the  work  of 
creation  forms  the  prominent  and  characteristic  feature  of 
the  scheme,  nay,  that  it  constitutes  the  very  nucleus  round 
which  the  scheme  has  originated.  Thus,  though  the  devel- 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  249 

opment  theory  be  not  atheistic,  it  is  at  least  practically 
tantamount  to  atheism.  For,  if  man  be  a  dying  creature, 
restricted  in  his  existence  to  the  present  scene  of  things, 
what  does  it  really  matter  to  him,  for  any  one  moral  pur- 
pose, whether  there  be  a  God  or  no  ?  If,  in  reality,  on  the 
same  religious  level  with  the  dog,  wolf,  and  fox,  that  are 
by  nature  atheists — a  nature  most  properly  coupled  with 
irresponsibility — to  what  one  practical  purpose  should  he 
know  or  believe-  in  a  God  whom  he,  as  certainly  as  they, 
is  never  to  meet  as  his  Judge  ?  or  why  should  he  square 
his  conduct  by  the  requirements  of  the  moral  code,  farther 
than  a  low  and  convenient  expediency  may  choose  to 
demand  ?» 

Fatal  as  the  hypothesis  appears  in  this  view,  it  is  in 
other  aspects  fraught  with  mischiefs  scarcely  secondary, 
though  of  a  kind  calculated  more  signally,  if  possible,  to 
expose  its  absurdity.  The  cattle  on  which  he  feeds,  if  not 
a  man's  brethren,  are,  on  this  theory,  at  least  his  first 
cousins,  and  the  trees  he  fells  at  pleasure  or  the  plants  he 
consumes,  his  kindred,  removed  only  one  additional  step. 
Against  the  latter  he  may  without  a  thought  whet  the  axe 
and  the  scythe,  and  the  knife  against  the  former  without  a 
pang !  Why  should  the  petty  circumstance  of  kinship  a 
trifle  nearer  give  men  impunity  from  similar  treatment? 
What  harm — what  so  great  wrong,  to  knock  one  on  the 
head  ?  To  cut  him  down  ?  Nay,  if  pleasant  to  the  palate 
of  some  dainty  epicure,  to  convert  his  muscle  into  steak 
and  surloin?  The  dignity,  safety,  or  satisfaction  of  hu- 
man existence  were  somewhat  questionable,  could  Sir 


250  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Charles  Lyell's  authority,  backing  Mr.  Darwin's  ingenuity, 
make  this  doctrine  the  ruling  belief  of  the  world ! 

Respecting  the  scientific  relations  of  a  scheme  involving 
moral  issues  so  portentous,  its  history  is  more  than  a  little 
significant.  The  hypothesis  is  very  far  from  being,  as 
seems  intimated  in  Lyell's  brief  statement,  a  purely 
original  and  very  fresh  emanation  from  the  mind  of  so 
competent  a  naturalist  as  Mr.  Darwin.  In  some  of  its 
accompaniments,  as  presented  by  him,  it  -is  of  course  new, 
and  his  own ;  but  in  characteristic  idea  it  is  as  old  as  some 
of  the  oldest  speculative  systems  of  the  world.  Epicurus, 
following,  perhaps,  earlier  dreamers,  (see  Cudworth's  In- 
tellectual System,  chap.  ii.  sec.  22,  and  Fenelon's  Lives  of 
Ancient  Philosophers,)  maintained  that  "the  sun,  gradually 
warming  the  fat  and  nitrous  early  earth,  soon  covered  it 
with  herbage  and  shrubs ;  there  also  began  to  rise  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground  a  great  number  of  small  tumors  like 
mushrooms,  which,  having  in  time  come  to  maturity,  the  skin 
burst  and  there  came  forth  little  animals,  which,  by-and-by 
retiring  from  the  place  where  they  had  been  produced,  be- 
gan to  respire;"  and  so  in  process  of  time  our  globe  was 
peopled !  Ruther  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  the 
notion  was  reproduced  by  Maillet,  in  his  Telliamed,  a  sort 
of  scientific  romance,  characterized  as  "a  popular  work,  as 
wild  and  amusing  as  a  fairy  tale,"  addressed  to  the  lively 
French  mind,  then  agitated  by  the  demoralizing  influences 
transmitted  from  the  age  of  the  Fourteenth  to  that  of  the 
Fifteenth  Louis,  and  by  the  latter  even  exaggerated,  as  if 
in  preparation  for  the  convulsion  of  the  next  half  century. 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  251 

In  preparing  his  readers  for  the  theory  of  transmutation  of 
species,  Maillet  insisted  that  the  change  from  marine  to 
terrestrial  vegetation  amounted  to  very  little;  and  in  proof 
made  his  Indian  philosopher  affirm  that  "the  fishermen  of 
Marseilles  are  in  the  habit  of  dragging  up  from  the  sea 
flowers  colored  like  the  rose  and  fruits  flavored  like  the 
grape."  Fifty  years  later,  the  celebrated  Jean  Baptiste 
Antoine  Pierre  Monet,  Chevalier  De  Lamarck,  under  simi- 
lar influences,  but  with  larger  though  still  very  incomplete 
knowledge,  issued  to  the  same  people,  while  yet  in  the  whirl 
of  their  revolution,  the  notorious  development  hypothesis, 
which  has  since  borne,  and  will  probably,  whatever  varying 
phases  it  may  assume,  continue  to  bear  his  name.  Not  only 
was  he  necessarily  ignorant  of  some  of  the  governing  facts 
in  the  history  of  organic  beings  which  geological  research 
has  brought  to  light  since  his  time,  but,  in  common  with 
Maillet  and  others,  he  speculated  on  the  supposition,  now 
abundantly  disproved,  of  a  primitive  universal  ocean.  "  That 
the  philosopher  who  perfected  the  development  dream  occu- 
pied this  position,  is  a  fact,"  as  Hugh  Miller  has  convinc- 
ingly urged,  "  sufficient  in  itself  to  show  how  certainly  it  is 
indeed  but  a  dream,"  and  nothing  approaching  a  genuine 
evolution  of  inductive  science.  With  another  generation 
came  the  "  Physio-Philosophy,"  etc.  of  the  German  Pro- 
fessor Oken,  extending  Lamarck's  system.  It  was  com- 
posed, the  author  alleges,  (see  preface  to  translation,)  "in 
a  kind  of  inspiration,"  and  "modified,"  as  he  confesses, 
"in  its  arrangement  of  plants  and  animals,"  to  suit  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  development  scheme,  "just  as  discoveries 


252  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

and  anatomical  investigations  rendered  some  other  position 
of  the  objects  a  matter  of  necessity."  This  was  succeeded 
some  years  ago  by  the  plausible  and  popular  though  anony- 
mous "Vestiges  of  Creation,"  the  false  assumptions,  un- 
sustained  pretensions,  and,  on  the  whole,  shallow  sophistry 
of  which,  in  common  with  those  of  all  the  existing  works 
of  the  class,  were  so  unanswerably  exposed  by  Hugli  Miller 
in  his  "Footprints  of  the  Creator." 

The  scientific  claims  of  Mr.  Darwin's  developmentism 
would  certainly  seem  to  be  rather  poorly  sustained  by  its 
antecedents.  Nor  is  its  relation  to  the  general  judgment 
of  leading  scientific  mind,  past  and  present,  less  significant. 
The  author,  though  by  adducing  the  "grave  doubts"  now 
"entertained"  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  and  otherwise,  attempt- 
ing to  diminish  the  force  of  the  fact,  is  obliged  to  admit 
(p.  271)  that  "all  the  most  eminent  paleontologists, 
namely,  Cuvier,  Owen,  Agassiz,  Barrande,  Falconer,  E. 
Forbes,  etc.,  and  all  our  greatest  geologists,  as  Lyell, 
Murchison,  Sedgwick,  etc.,  have  unanimously,  often  vehe- 
mently (?)  maintained  the  immutability  of  species." 

This,  however,  well-nigh  conclusive  as  it  is,  may  not  be 
sufficient  toward  the  truth  we  wish  to  exhibit  as  fairly  as 
our  limits  allow.  A  glance,  then,  at  the  system  in  its  latest 
phase  becomes  proper. 

That  Mr.  Darwin's  discussion  is  skillful  and  able,  no  in- 
telligent reader  will  deny.  Indeed  the  fact  is  patent,  from 
the  impression  which  even  in  manuscript  it  made  on  such 
a  mind  as  Sir  Charles  LyelPs.  Already  known  as  an 
extensive  inquirer  and  suggestive  writer,  the  author  has 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  253 

unquestionably  brought  to  the  advocacy  of  an  old  idea  new 
and  large  resources  of  knowledge  as  a  naturalist  and  of  in- 
genuity as  a  theorist.  Hence,  of  course,  he  has  in  several 
respects  improved  upon  the  doctrines  of  his  predecessors. 
The  machinery  of  the  system  he  has  considerably  varied. 
And  some  of  the  difficulties,  to  which  previous  advocates 
had  exposed  the  cause  by  claiming  to  know  too  much,  he 
sagaciously  avoids,  partly  by  an  adroit  use  of  manifold  in- 
formation, and  partly,  where  this  fails,  by  a  still  more  adroit 
resort  to  the  boundless  and  yet  ever-at-hand  unknown. 

The  main-spring  of  the  machinery  constructed  by  this 
ingenious  author  is  what  he  designates  "natural  selection." 
It  is  represented  as  composed  of  two  elements,  viz.,  variabil- 
ity in  living  organisms,  and  a  general  struggle  for  existence. 
Thus,  (pp.  63-77:)  "As  more  individuals  are  produced 
than  can  possibly  survive,  there  must  in  every  case  be  a 
struggle  for  existence,  either  one  individual  with  another  of 
the  same  species,  or  with  the  individuals  of  distinct  species, 

or  with  the  physical  conditions  of  life How  will  this 

act  in  regard  to  variation  ?  .  .  .  Can  it  be  thought  improb- 
able that  variations,  useful  in  some  way  to  each  being  in 
the -great  and  complex  battle  of  life,  should  sometimes 
occur  in  the  course  of  thousands  of  generations  ?  If  such 
do  occur,  can  we  doubt,  remembering  that  many  more  indi- 
viduals are  born  than  can  possibly  survive,  that  individuals 
having  any  advantage,  however  slight,  over  others  would 
have  the  best  chance  of  surviving  and  of  procreating  their 
kind  ?  On  the  other  hand,  we  may  be  sure  that  any  varia- 
tion in  the  least  degree  injurious  would  be  rigidly  destroyed. 

22 


254  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

This  preservation  of  favorable  variations  and  the  rejection 
of  injurious  variations,  I  call  natural  selection." 

Such  is  the  principle  of  the  apparatus.  How  does  it 
work  ?  By  the  one  exclusive  law  of  protection  to  the  in- 
dividual. Every  consideration  of  ends  more  remote,  of 
relation  to  other  purposes,  of  connection  with  a  great 
providential  plan,  of  the  bearing  of  what  are  known  as 
final  causes,  is  by  the  nature  of  the  case  shut  out?  and 
accordingly  by  the  propounder  of  the  system  wholly  re- 
jected. Each  living  thing  is  what  it  is,  or  very  slowly 
changes  from  what  it  was  to  something  else,  solely  under  a 
chance  variation,  which  is  perpetuated  exclusively  by  its 
becoming  available  for  the  continuance  of  individual  life  in 
the  ceaseless  strife  of  being.  If,  then,  other  ruling  pur- 
poses in  the  relations  of  any  organism  can  be  satisfactorily 
shown,  the  theory  is  not  only  discredited,  but  well-nigh  dis- 
proved. This  is  distinctly  admitted.  Reference  is  made 
(p.  IT  7)  to  those  who  consider  extreme  and  deceptive  the 
idea  that  "every  detail  of  structure  has  been  produced  for 
the  good  of  its  possessor;"  "who  believe  that  very  many 
structures  have  been  created  for  beauty  in  the  eyes  of  man, 
(or  for  his  benefit,)  or  for  mere  variety,"  or  for  some  other 
general  end.  And  the  author  adds,  "this  doctrine,  if 
true,  would  be  fatal  to  my  theory."  Now  we  press  home 
the  question,  is  it  not  true  ?  At  any  rate,  a  thousand  times 
more  satisfactorily  sure  than  the  antagonist  scheme  ?  Can 
considerate  men,  in  their  right  minds,  be  made  to  believe 
that  the  nutritious  qualities  of  our  harvest  grains  are  mere 
accidental  results  of  a  struggle  for  life  through  uncounted 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  255 

ages  on  the  part  of  cereal  plants,  having  no  reference  to 
the  supply  of  bread  for  human  kind  ?  That  the  delicious 
fruits  clustering  in  vineyard  and  orchard  are  only  similar 
chance  products,  simply  happening  to  be  pleasant  to  the 
taste,  constituted,  however,  not  at  all  with  reference  to 
that,  but  exclusively  on  account  of  their  helping  to  per- 
petuate the  tree  ?  That  the  exquisite  grace  of  the  rose 
and  fragrance  of  the  violet  are,  in  like  manner,  nothing 
but  casualties,  continued  solely  through  the  circumstance 
that  they,  in  some  inconceivable  way,  aid  against  a  thou- 
sand foes  the  plants  that  bear  them  ?  May  it  not  be  quite 
as  rationally  held,  that  coal  and  iron,  with  all  their  won- 
derful adaptations  to  human  comfort  and  culture,  are  but 
hap-hazard  productions,  packed  away  and  preserved  alone 
because  of  some  hidden  influence  limited  to  those  sub- 
stances ?  Or  that  the  gorgeous  coloring  of  morning  and 
evening  vapors  and  the  matchless  beauty  of  the  rainbow 
exist  partly  by  chance  and  partly  for  the  good  of  the 
clouds  ? 

The  positive  supports  of  such  a  system  are  a  few  truths 
generalized  greatly  beyond  knowledge  or  probability. 
As,  for  instance,  the  fact  that  the  universe  is  regulated 
by  law — that  considerable  variations,  often  by  mankind 
turned  to  account,  occur  in  species — that  naturalists  are 
sometimes  puzzled  to  determine  between  specific  differ- 
ences and  those  which  belong  only  to  varieties — that  dis- 
tricts peculiarly  insulated  have  occasionally  been  found 
with  a  peculiar  flora  and  fauna — and  that  there  is  a  singu- 
lar parallelism  between  the  phenomena  of  embriology  and 


256  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

the  general  order  of  advance  in  animated  nature.  Con- 
siderations of  this  character  have  of  course  from  the  first 
constituted  the  staple  of  developmentarians.  And  though 
abundantly  shown  to  furnish  no  adequate  ground  for  their 
hypothesis,  they  are  still  presented  as  its  foundation. 
Without  pausing  to  consider  them,  we  direct  attention  to 
the  negative  aspect  of  the  scheme, — the  difficulties  which 
are  acknowledged  to  lie  in  its  way. 

Respecting  these,  Mr.  Darwin  even  admits,  (p.  154,) 
"some  of  them  are  so  grave,  that  to  this  day  I  can  never 
reflect  on  them  without  being  staggered."  "But,"  he  adds, 
as  the  utmost  to  be  yet  ventured,  "to  the  best  of  my  judg- 
ment, the  greater  number  are  only  apparent,  and  those  that 
are  real,  are  not,  I  think,  fatal  to  my  theory."  Let  it  be 
considered  only  as  thus  stated  by  paternal  partiality,  simply 
that  opposing  facts  are  just  "not  fatal"  to  the  doctrine,  it 
is  at  least  clear,  that,  after  all  thus  far  said  in  its  behalf, 
any  claim  for  the  theory,  as  approximating  a  conclusion  of 
science,  is  wholly  inadmissible. 

Two  of  these  difficulties  we  adduce  by  way  of  illustration, 
viz.:  First,  the  readily  occurring  reflection  that  transitional 
instances  might  be  expected  to  abound  among  organic 
forms,  if  the  doctrine  be  true;  and,  second,  the  fact  that 
numerous  species — some  of  them  so  elevated  in  structure, 
that  Hugh  Miller  was  able,  with  a  few  of  their  relics,  to 
slay  the  philosophies  of  Lamarck,  Oken,  and  the  "Ves- 
tiges," as  Samson  did  a  thousand  Philistines  with  an 
ass's  jaw — are  traced  in  the  lowest  fossil-bearing  strata 
of  the  geological  scale.  Are  these  objections  removed? 


THE    AGE   OF    MANKIND.  257 

Not  at  all.  But  the  hypothesis  is  carried  round  them 
through  the  trackless  region  of  the  infinite  unknown.  Tran- 
sitional form  ?  Oysters  converted  into  sturgeon  1  turnips 
into  toads  !  butterflies  into  nightingales  !  snakes  into  grey- 
hounds !  oxen  into  elephants !  and  ourang-outangs  into 
men !  Why,  it  takes  millions  of  ages  to  do  all  this ;  and 
since  rational  beings,  though  partially  developed  an  im- 
mense while  ago,  have  existed  for  a  period  compared  with 
the  whole  life-term  but  as  yesterday,  it  is  of  course  im- 
possible that  we  should  really  know  anything  about  these 
changes.  One  would,  however,  suppose  Mr.  Darwin's 
accidental  variations  and  "natural  selection"  might  have 
scope  for  some  appreciable  influence  in  species  spread  over 
millions  of  acres  of  space  as  readily  as  in  those  descending 
through  millions  of  years  of  time.  Yet  the  beetles  and 
bulls  of  the  remotest  quarter  of  the  earth  are  to-day  not 
one  whit  more  like  eagles  and  lions,  or  any  other  species, 
than  were  those  which  the  Egyptians  embalmed  forty  or 
fifty  centuries  ago.  But  if  this  is  to  be  reckoned  nothing, 
how  with  the  geological  ages?  Are  there  any  cases  of 
transmutation  registered  in  the  rocks  ?  Not  one  has  been 
found.  Why  not,  if  the  truth  be  as  Mr.  Darwin  sup- 
poses ?  Because  the  record,  he  answers,  is  too  imperfect. 
This  is  the  case  in  few  words,  (p.  246  :)  ''Geology  assuredly 
does  not  reveal  any  such  finely  graduated  organic  chain ; 
and  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most  obvious  and  gravest  ob- 
jection which  can  be  urged  against  my  theory.  The 
explanation  lies,  I  believe,  in  the  extreme  imperfection  of 
the  geological  record." 

22* 


258  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

Here,  then,  the  whole  inquiry  loses  itself  in  unrelieved 
darkness,  through  which  there  is  no  groping,  save  boldly 
by  guess. 

Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  "the  allied  and  even  graver 
difficulty,"  (p.  268,)  "the  sudden  appearance  in  the  lowest 
known  fossiliferous  rocks  of  numerous  species."  The  sup- 
position is  ventured,  that  the  dawn  of  life  was  inconceivably 
earlier,  and  that  "during  vast  ages  preceding  the  Silurian, 
the  world  swarmed  with  living  creatures."  But  to  the 
question,  why  we  do  not  find  records  of  those  immense 
primordial  periods?  the  confession  is  returned,  "I  can 
give  no  satisfactory  answer.  .  .  .  The  case  at  present  must 
remain  inexplicable.  ...  To  show  that  it  may  hereafter 
receive  some  explanation,  I  will  give  the  following  hypo- 
thesis." And  the  possible  or  conceivable  is  again  ex- 
plored. 

Such  is  the  scheme.  Theory  built  upon  supposition, 
inference  supported  by  hypothesis, — till  a  structure  is 
devised  that  shall  obliterate  moral  responsibility,  destroy 
all  the  more  elevated  sentiments  of  humanity,  and  convert 
the  world  into  a  great  menagerie,  subject  only  to  laws  of 
life.  Dr.  Johnson's  severe  but  just  censure  of  speculation 
thus  conducted  may  well  be  here  brought  to  mind.  "He 
who  will  determine  against  that  which  he  knows,  because 
there  may  be  something  which  he  knows  not — he  that 
can  set  hypothetical  possibility  against  acknowledged 
certainty  —  is  not  to  be  admitted  among  reasonable 
beings." 

Palaeontology,  however,  and  geology  are  not  the  only 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  259 

sciences  which  afford  information  on  the  question  before 
us.  There  is  also  a  registry  derived  from  the  heavens, 
which  may  aid  us  toward  some  approximate  solution  of 
our  problem.  Astronomy  furnishes,  at  least  indirectly, 
one  standard  by  which,  generally,  if  not  definitely,  to 
measure  the  probable  age  of  mankind. 

Laplace  tells  us,  in  his  "Systeme  du  Monde,"  that  "the 
Chinese  are,  of  all  people,  those  whose  annals  offer  the 
most  ancient  observations  which  we  can  employ  in  astron- 
omy. The  first  eclipses  which  they  mention  can  serve 
only  for  chronology,  on  account  of  the  vague  manner  in 
which  they  are  described.  But  those  eclipses  show  that  at 
the  epoch  of  the  Emperor  Tao,  some  two  thousand  years 
before  our  era,  astronomy  was  thus  cultivated  in  China  as 
the  basis  of  religious  ceremonies.  The  first  useful  Chinese 
observations  belong  to  about  eleven  hundred  years  before 
our  era." 

"The  earliest  Chaldean  observations  transmitted  are 
eclipses  of  the  moon,  observed  at  Babylon,  7 19-20  before 
our  era." 

"  We  have  very  few  authentic  documents  relating  to  the 
astronomy  of  the  Egyptians.  .  .  .  The  astronomers  of  Alex- 
andria were  forced  to  recur  to  Chaldean  observations, 
though  some  time  previously  Thales,  Pythagoras,  etc.  had 
been  attracted  to  Egypt  by  the  reputation  of  its  priests  for 
astronomical  and  other  knowledge." 

"The  Indian  tables  suppose  an  astronomy  considerably 
advanced,  but  everything  leads  us  to  suppose  they  are  not 
of  such  high  antiquity.  The  impossibilty  of  the  general 


200  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

conjunction  which  they  require,  proves  that  they  have  been 
constructed  in  modern  times." 

AVith  these  declarations  of  a  philosopher  of  the  past 
age,  whose  position  in  his  department  remains  without  ap- 
proach to  any  claim  of  rivalry,  may  be  associated  a  state- 
ment recently  attributed  to  a  gentleman  of  our  country 
who  has  won  for  himself  a  distinguished  name  among  exist- 
ing practical  astronomers.  The  papers  have  just  announced, 
as  lately  affirmed  by  Professor  Mitchell,  in  one  of  his  lec- 
tures :  "  He  had  not  long  since  met,  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis, 
a  man  of  great  scientific  attainments,  who,  for  forty  years 
had  been  engaged  in  Egypt  in  deciphering  the  hieroglyphics 
of  the  ancients.  This  gentleman  had  stated  to  him  that  he 
had  lately  unraveled  the  inscriptions  upon  the  coffin  of  a 
mummy  now  in  the  London  museum,  and  that  in  them,  by 
the  aid  of  previous  observations,  he  had  discovered  the  key 
to  all  the  astronomical  knowledge  of  the  Egyptians.  The 
zodiac,  with  the  exact  position  of  the  planets,  was  de- 
lineated on  this  coffin,  and  the  date  to  which  they  pointed 
was  the  autumnal  equinox  in  the  year  IT 22  before  Christ, 
or  nearly  thirty-six  hundred  years  ago.  Professor  Mitchell 
employed  his  assistants  to  ascertain  the  exact  positions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  belonging  to  our  solar  system  on  the 
equinox  of  that  year,  (1722  B.C.;)  and  to  his  astonish- 
ment, on  comparing  the  result  with  the  statement  of  his 
scientific  friend,  already  referred  to,  it  was  found  that  on 
the  7th  October,  1722  B.C.,  the  moon  and  planets  had 
occupied  the  exact  points  in  the  heavens  marked  upon  the 
coffin  in  the  London  museum." 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND.  261 

This,  if  reliable,  both  confirms  Laplace's  allusion  to  early 
astronomical  attainments  in  Egypt,  defective  as  they  were 
in  a  later  age,  and  shows  a  striking  correspondence  between 
the  times  of  the  earliest  known  observations  there  and  in 
China. 

If  to  these  statements  be  added  the  significant  fact,  that, 
since  the  unknown  age  when  our  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  the 
constellations  with  which  they  then  corresponded,  received 
the  names  they  bear,  the  retrograde  motion  of  the  equi- 
noctial points  upon  the  ecliptic,  which  is  at  the  rate  of 
about  an  entire  circuit  in  twenty-five  thousand  years,  has 
caused  a  recession  of  the  signs  from  their  constellations  of 
only  about  thirty  degrees,  answering  to  a  period  of  a  little 
over  two  thousand  years,  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that 
astronomical  records  are  of  very  limited  antiquity. 

The  bearing  of  this  conclusion  upon  our  immediate 
inquiry  is  obvious.  It  is  not  to  be  believed  that  the  mag- 
nificent spectacle  of  the  heavens,  so  peculiarly  resplendent 
over  the  plains  of  Chaldea,  Egypt,  and  India,  could  long 
have  remained  without  special  notice  by  human  creatures. 
The  ever-varying  and  impressive  phenomena  exhibited  in 
those  serene  skies  must  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
rational  beings  within  a  moderate  age  after  their  establish- 
ment in  countries  so  situated.  Nor  is  it  much  more  likely 
that  observation,  once  begun,  could  have  proceeded  for  any 
protracted  period,  without  some  effort,  however  rude,  to- 
ward registering  the  result  for  subsequent  use.  Such  efforts, 
again,  could  scarcely  fail,  in  a  moderate  series  of  genera- 
tions, to  exhibit  defects  in  the  methods  employed,  and  sug- 


262  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

gest  improvements,  which  should  issue  in  a  system  capable 
of  being  transmitted  to  after-ages.  The  age,  therefore,  at 
which  astronomical  records  begin  to  be  thus  transmitted  is 
no  insignificant  index  of  the  age  at  which  the  people, 
handing  them  down,  became  established.  And  the  general 
agreement  of  that  record-age,  among  the  widely  separated 
nations  mentioned  by  Laplace,  seems  not  a  little  to  favor 
this  conclusion.  It  is,  undoubtedly,  a  fact  of  some  im- 
portant meaning,  that  the  early  astronomical  notices, 
handed  down  in  China  and  Babylon  should  be  dated 
within  about  four  centuries  of  each  other;  and  that  those 
transmitted  in  the  venerable  chronicles  of  India  should  be 
found,  when  adequately  sifted,  to  correspond,  perhaps,  as 
nearly  wiih  such  as  have  been  preserved  among  the  mys- 
terious monuments  of  the  Nile. 

Xot  to  make  this  era  of  astronomical  records  an  ap- 
proximate measure  for  the  whole  past  term  of  human 
existence,  to  suppose  that  men  could  have  looked  upon  the 
skies  for  hundreds  of  centuries,  without  having  curiosity 
quickened  into  observation,  and  observation  preserved  in 
records,  would  imply  a  degree  of  intelligence  in  primitive 
man  scarcely  above  that  of  the  very  brutes.  Indeed,  a 
process  of  development  is  involved  in  the  supposition, 
which  agrees  only  with  the  exploded  speculations  of  La- 
marck, and  the  "  Vestiges  of  Creation ;"  or  with  the  scarcely 
less  anti-inductive  as  well  as  morally  destructive  theory  of 
Mr.  Darwin. 

That  all  reliable  tradition  accords  with  the  positive  in- 
dications thus  gathered  from  two  leading  departments  of 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  263 

science,  is  an  additional  circumstance  entitled  to  its  own 
weight.  The  Bible  excepted,  there  is  not,  as  every  reader 
knows,  a  written  history  in  the  world  reaching  back  three 
thousand  years.  Nor  does  the  creative  genius  of  Homer, 
from  his  distant  position,  venture  to  deal  with  events  beyond 
that  term.  The  oldest  inscription  ascertained  by  Layard, 
Hincks,  and  Rawlinson,  at  Nineveh,  ascends  only  to  1250 
before  Christ ;  and  Manetho  himself,  with  all  his  extrava- 
gances, does  not  pretend  to  claim  for  the  Egyptian  empire 
an  origin  earlier  than  about  3570  years  before  Alexander. 
Still  considerably  less  than  six  thousand  years  before  our 
time. 

The  moderate  human  period  thus  concurrently  indicated 
by  geology,  astronomy,  and  history,  derives  additional  con- 
firmation from  the  known  course  of  development  of  the 
leading  nations,  within  the  historical  period,  in  numbers, 
intelligence,  and  social  culture.  No  unprejudiced  mind, 
clearly  discerning  that  general  progress  during  one  or  two 
thousand  years,  can  readily  be  persuaded  that  the  ancestors 
of  these  branches  of  the  human  family  could  have  lain  in 
darkness,  feebleness,  and  stagnation,  for  uncounted  antece- 
dent ages. 

Nor,  in  this  view,  apart  from  any  question  of  Scripture 
chronology,  and  even  supposing  his  free  interpretation  of 
its  earlier  data  admissible,  does  Biinsen's  inference,  (vol.  iv. 
p.  12,  etc.)  from  what  he  considers  indications  contained 
in  the  development  of  language,  seem  at  all  satisfactory, 
that  "about  ten  millenia  before  our  era  are  demanded  for 


264  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

the  Xoachian  period,  and  for  the  beginning  of  our  race 
another  ten  thousand  years." 

The  conclusion  reached  in  these  several  ways  is,  however, 
but  a  general  one.  A  few  decades  of  centuries  are  indi- 
cated as  summing  the  generations  since  man  appeared 
upon  earth ;  but  specifically  how  many,  is  not  even  sug- 
gested. There  is  no  token  in  the  skies  or  the  earth,  none 
in  legendary  or  monumental  lore,  that  points  decisively  to 
the  birthday  of  our  race.  No  guidance  but  that  of  Scrip- 
ture can  conduct  us  to  the  dawn  of  time,  as  related  to  our- 
selves. Turn  we  now,  therefore,  to  the  sacred  books,  to 
learn  what  they  teach  as  to  the  entire  age  of  our  species. 

To  those  who  have  given  no  special  attention  to  the 
early  chronology  of  the  Bible,  it  may  seem  an  easy  task  to 
obtain  from  them  a  solution  of  our  problem.  But  further 
examination  will  soon  satisfy  them  that  there  are  perplex- 
ities in  the  case,  they  had  not  supposed :  real  difficulties, 
which  have  long  exercised  the  genius  and  learning  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  which  can  scarcely  yet,  if  they  ever  may,  be 
satisfactorily  solved. 

It  is  in  reference  to  some  of  these  difficulties  that  we  iu- 
troduce  the  researches  of  Biinsen  and  Lepsius.  Not  that 
their  views  or  conclusions  seem  to  us  altogether  unobjec- 
tionable, but  because  their  works  on  the  subject  are  the 
most  recent  and  able  known  to  us;  because  they  bring 
criticism  to  bear  upon  the  questions  at  issue,  in  its  scien- 
tific rather  than  its  theological  aspects;  because  they 
furnish  from  the  old  registries  of  Egypt  some  tests,  for  the 
time-measures  of  the  Bible,  not  heretofore  accessible ;  and 


THE    AGE   OF    MANKIND.  265 

because  they  have  conducted  their  investigations  in  a  spirit 
of  reverence  as  well  as  of  freedom.  "With  reverence  and 
freedom  must  science  be  pursued,"  says  Lepsius,  in  dedi- 
cating to  Biinsen  his  "Chronology  of  the  Egyptians." 
"Reverence  for  everything  that  is  venerable,  sacred,  noble, 
great,  and  approved ;  freedom,  wherever  truth  and  a  con- 
viction of  it  are  to  be  obtained  and  expressed.  Where 
the  latter  is  wanting,  there  fear  and  hypocrisy  will  exist ; 
where  the  former,  insolence  and  presumption  will  luxuriate 
in  science  as  in  life." 

In  justice  to  the  subject  as  well  as  to  them,  we  must 
permit  these  eminent  men  to  present  somewhat  in  detail 
their  own  views. 

"There  is,  probably,"  says  Biinsen,  (Egypt's  Place  in 
Universal  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  160,)  "no  subject  upon 
which,  during  these  two  thousand  years,  so  much  talent  and 
learning  have  been  expended,  by  the  most  intellectual 
nations  of  the  earth,  Greeks  and  Byzantines,  Romans, 
Germans,  and  their  kindred  races,  as  upon  the  solution 
of  the  several  chronological  questions  connected  with 
Egyptian  and  Jewish  history."  And  this  he  explains  by  a 
most  important  remark,  which  may  suggest  instructive 
reflections  concerning  the  providential  purpose  of  the  ex- 
isting form  of  Scripture  history.  Human  culture  has  been 
incalculably  promoted  by  the  investigation  of  great  issues 
involved  in  the  structure  of  biblical  narrative.  And  to 
stimulate  intellectual  enterprise  in  such  directions  was, 
doubtless,  part  of  the  purpose  for  which  difficulties  were 
permitted  to  enter  as  incidental  elements  of  the  sacred 
23 


266  SCIENCE   A   "WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

record.  "We  must  not  forget,"  continues  Biinsen,  "that 
to  the  progress  of  enlightened  culture  at  every  period  of 
Christianity,  and  its  effectual  resistance  to  the  opposing 
influence  of  barbarism,  a  far  deeper  and  more  comprehen- 
sive range  of  critical  research  is  indispensable  than  was 
required  at  any  period  of  the  ancient  world.  This  neces- 
sity arises  not  only  from  the  more  advanced  state  of  uni- 
versal history,  but  more  especially  from  the  fact,  that  the 
research  of  every  Christian  period  must  come  to  a  previous 
understanding  with  a  tradition,  which,  in  itself  essentially 
historical,  is  also  of  standard  importance  in  universal  his- 
tory. We  must  therefore  endeavor,  by  comparing  sacred 
with  profane  history,  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  laws 
of  reason  on  the  other,  to  find  a  common  basis  for  recon- 
ciling its  principles  of  truth  with  the  world  and  with 
science.  It  was  this  consideration  which  first  opened  to 
Clemens  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  and  Augustine,  the 
philosophy  of  history,  with  more  enlarged  views  of  general 
chronology." 

Then,  in  order  to  justify  himself,  under  the  acknowledged 
difficulties  with  which  the  items  of  Scripture  chronology  are 
invested, — by  certain  disagreeing  numbers  in  the  Hebrew, 
Samaritan,  and  Septuagint  texts,  by  the  many  various 
readings  of  ancient  manuscripts  in  regard  to  numerals, 
and  by  the  apparent  conflict  between  such  enumerations  as 
those  of  1  Kings,  vi.  1,  which  makes  the  fourth  year  of 
Solomon  only  four  hundred  and  eighty  years  after  the 
Exodus,  and  Acts,  xiii.  20,  which  assigns  four  hundred  and 
fifty  years  to  the  Judges  alone  up  to  Samuel, — for  thor- 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  26f 

onglily  examining  the  subject,  "in  a  spirit  of  reverence  as 
well  as  of  liberty,"  the  learned  critic  thus  proceeds: — 

"Whoever  adopts  as  a  principle  that  chronology  is  a 
matter  of  revelation,  is  precluded  from  giving  effect  to  any 
doubt  that  may  cross  his  path,  as  involving  a  virtual 
abandonment  of  his  faith  in  revelation.  He  must  be  pre- 
pared not  only  to  deny  the  existence  of  contradictory 
statements,  but  to  fill  up  chasms;  however  irreconcilable 
the  former  may  appear,  by  the  aid  of  philology  and  his- 
tory, however  unfathomable  the  latter.  He  who,  on  the 
other  hand,  neither  believes  in  a  historical  tradition  as  to 
the  immortal  existence  of  man,  nor  admits  a  historical 
and  chronological  element  in  revelation,  will  either  con- 
temptuously dismiss  the  inquiry,  or,  by  prematurely  reject- 
ing its  more  difficult  elements,  fail  to  discover  those  threads 
of  the  research  which  lie  beneath  the  unsightly  and  time- 
worn  surface,  and  which  yet  may  prove  the  thread  of 
Ariadne." 

"  The  ground  taken  up  in  this  work  is  one  of  exclusively 
historical  research,  but  entered  upon  with  a  deep  feeling 
of  the  respect  due  to  the  general  chronological  statements 
of  Scripture,  which  have  been  considered,  during  so  many 
centuries,  as  forming  the  groundwork  of  religious  faith, 
and  are  even  at  the  present  moment  intimately  connected 
with  the  Christian  faith.  It  will,  therefore,  still  remain 
our  safest  method,  starting  from  the  assumption  that  the 
centre  of  revelation  is  of  a  historical  character,  to  admit 
as  established  the  truth  of  all  facts  in  the  civil  history  of 
the  Jews,  however  remotely  they  may  be  connected  with 


268  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

revealed  religious  truths,  until  the  contrary  has  been 
demonstrated.  But  historical  science  neither  can,  nor  will, 
in  any  such  case,  permit  the  exclusion  or  obstruction  of 
critical  research." 

Pursuing,  therefore,  such  research,  Biinsen  finds  that 
from  the  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple,  "all  the  Scrip- 
ture data  accord  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner  with  the 
traditions  and  contemporary  monuments  of  Egypt."  But, 
"beyond  the  building  of  the  temple  the  continuous  narrative 
of  Scripture  ceases,  and  consequently  here  also  ceases  the 
up  to  this  point  reasonable  harmony  in  the  chronological 
system  of  the  critics.  And  we  have  two  great  periods  to 
pass  through,  in  which  the  Jewish  and  Egyptian  chro- 
nology must  be  compared ;  and  the  pivots  of  these  two 
periods  are  nothing  less  than  the  pivots  of  the  history  of 
Egypt,  and  perhaps  of  the  world."  These  two  periods 
are  from  Solomon  to  Moses,  and  from  Moses  to  Abraham. 
With  regard  to  them  he  examines  minutely  Judges,  Gen- 
esis, and  other  sacred  books,  arriving  at  last  at  this  con- 
clusion: "Xo  systematic  chronological  tradition  was  in 
existence  for  the  times  prior  to  Solomon,  and  that  the 
general  sums  total  met  with  in  1  Kings,  vi.  1,  etc.,  must 
be  considered  as  matters  of  adjustment  and  not  of  tra- 
dition." 

By  applying  similar  processes  to  still  more  remote  times 
in  the  biblical  narrative,  the  erudite  Chevalier  adjusts  them 
to  the  extended  periods  indicated  by  Manetho  and  the 
Egyptian  monuments. 

Upon  certain  of  these  points  we  presently  shall  have 


THE   AGE   OF   MANKIND. 


269 


something  to  say.  First,  however,  the  other  accomplished 
Prussian  must  be  permitted  to  speak  for  himself. 

In  full  agreement  with  Biinsen,  he  is,  after  careful  ex- 
amination, satisfied  that  Manetho  and  the  Egyptian  monu- 
ments are  to  be  credited  for  the  existence  of  an  Egyptian 
monarchy,  as  far  back  as  3893  years  B.C.  Notwithstanding 
that  the  estimate  of  Archbishop  Usher,  founded  chiefly  on 
an  arrangement  of  the  Masoretic  Hebrew  numbers,  allows 
only  2348  years  B.C.  for  the  time  of  the  deluge,  and  the 
calculation  of  Dr.  Jackson,  based  on  an  adjustment  of  the 
figures  of  the  Septuagint,  admits  but  3160  years,  and  a 
recent  computation  by  Dr.  Seyffarth,  (Summary  of  Recent 
Discoveries  in  Biblical  Chronology,  etc.,  1859, — S.  E. 
Quarterly  Review,  April,  I860,)  based  upon  a  different 
adjustment  of  the  Septuagint,  and  upon  certain  alleged 
astronomical  data,  assigns  at  furthest  not  more  than  344t 
years  B.C.,  as  the  date  of  that  event.  This  obvious  con- 
flict between  the  Egyptian  age,  which  he  finds  substan- 
tiated, and  the  three  disagreeing  post-diluvian  ages  pro- 
fessedly derived  from  inspired  authority,  Lepsius  endeav- 
ors to  search  out  and  explain,  in  his  own  spirit  of  min- 
gled "reverence  and  freedom."  And  of  his  effort  to  this 
end  he  thus  speaks,  ("Chronology  of  the  Egyptians:" 
Dedication.) 

"The  section  of  my  volume  which  endeavors  to  establish 
the  relation  of  the  Egyptian  to  the  old  Hebrew  chronology 
will  meet  with  most  opposition.  Considering  the  intimate 
connection  that  necessarily  subsists  between  the  philological 
and  dogmatical  methods  of  examining  the  sacred  records, 

23* 


270  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

it  is  perfectly  natural  that  whenever  a  step  in  advance,  or 
an  error,  strives  to  obtain  a  place  on  the  philological  side, 
theological  interest,  so  much  more  universally  distributed, 
takes  a  part  either  for  or  against  it.  Whoever  would  dis- 
pute its  right  to  do  this,  must  deny  to  theology  in  general 
its  character  as  a  science.  The  Christianity  wrhich  derives 
its  origin  and  its  sustenance  from  the  Bible  is  essentially 
and  intrinsically  wholly  independent  of  all  learned  con- 
firmation. Still,  it  is  the  duty  of  theology,  whose  task  it 
is  to  fathom  Christianity  in  a  rational  manner,  and  prove 
its  results,  to  decide  scientifically  what  are  the  essential 
points  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  on  which  it  founds  its  system 
of  Christian  belief.  Should  its  true  supports  not  be  recog- 
nized, but  imaginary  ones  placed  in  their  stead,  it  wrill  not 
injure  Christianity,  but  the  theological  system,  or  that  por- 
tion of  it  which  was  built  on  unstable  ground.  That  truth 
which  is  discerned  by  the  sound  progress  of  any  science 
whatever  cannot  be  hostile  to  Christian  truth,  but  must 
promote  it ;  for  all  truths,  from  the  very  beginning,  have 
formed  a  compact  league  against  everything  that  is  false 
and  erroneous.  Theology,  however,  possesses  no  other 
means  than  every  other  science  to  distinguish  scientifically, 
in  any  department,  between  truth  and  error,  namel}',  only  a 
reasonable  and  circumspect  criticism.  "Whatever  is  brought 
forward,  according  to  this  method,  can  only  be  corrected 
or  entirely  refuted  by  a  still  better  and  more  circumspect 
criticism.  It  seems  to  me  also  that  the  practical,  religious 
meaning  which  the  Old  Testament  possesses  for  every  Chris- 
tian reader  is  very  independent  of  the  dates  of  periods, 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  271 

the  exact  knowledge  of  which  could  only  have  been  im- 
parted by  means  of  a  purposeless  inspiration  to  the  authors 
and  elaborators  of  those  writings,  many  of  whom  lived  sev- 
eral centuries  later." 

Noting,  then,  the  conflict  between  the  430  years  of 
Exodus,  xii.  40,  as  the  time  of  Israel's  sojourn  in  Egypt, 
(the  70  interpolate,  "and  Canaan,")  and  the  430  of  Gal- 
atians,  iii.  17,  as  the  interval  between  the  Abrahamic  Cove- 
nant and  the  Law,  and  the  discrepancy,  already  mentioned, 
between  the  450  years  of  Acts,  xiii.  20,  and  the  480  of  1 
Kings,  vi.  1,  and  the  disagreement  again  of  these  with  the 
sum  of  the  individual  numbers  in  Judges,  and  observing 
that  the  430  is  just  double  the  period  (215)  from  Abraham 
to  Jacob,  and  the  480  equivalent  to  12  generations  of 
40  years  each,  Lepsius  supposes  that  there  may  be  in 
these  instances  "  a  play  of  numbers  involving  some  higher 
providential  meaning,"  or  that  "this  external  garb  of 
numbers  is  to  be  regarded  as  unessential  for  the  religious." 

"On  the  other  hand,"  he  adds,  "I  have  clung  to  the 
Levitical  registers  of  generations  as  a  far  more  certain 
guide ;  and  thus,  in  place  of  a  chronological  fabric  which 
had  been  already  long  considered  untenable,  I  immediately 
obtained  a  true  historical  foundation,  and  a  chronology 
bordering,  at  least,  on  a  perfectly  reliable  one,  as  far  back 
as  Abraham,  and  this  not  only  coincided  with  all  the  other 
historical  relations  in  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament, 
but  also  with  the  already  established  Manethonic-Egyptian 
computation  of  time.  .  .  .  And  this  is  no  slight  satisfaction 


272  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

to  me,  as  affording  one  more  guarantee  of  the  genuineness 
of  the  Egyptian  chronology." 

-  .  .  .  "  I  do  not  believe  that  a  sound  critical  examina- 
tion can  consider  so  many  and  such  universal  agreements 
and  confirmations  to  be  accidental,  or  the  result  of  an 
artificial  correction  .  .  .  We  therefore  believe,  that  by  a 
new  path,  namely,  the  Manethonic  chronology,  we  have 
found  the  key  to  the  relative  portions  of  time  in  the  Old 
Testament  so  far  as  these  are  connected  with  Egypt ;  and 
in  an  inverse  manner  we  may  now  consider  the  agreement 
that  subsists  between  the  chronology  of  the  Hebrew  his- 
tory— both  the  true  chronology,  represented  in  the  geneal- 
ogies, and  the  false  one,  which  was  afterwards  erroneously 
adopted — and  the  Egyptian  numbers,  to  be  indeed  strongly 
confirmatory  of  the  authenticity  of  these  last,  as  they  ap- 
pear according  to  our  restoration  of  them." 

"It  is  very  evident  that  our  carrying  back  the  Old  Testa- 
ment chronology  to  its  natural  relations,  as  far  back  as 
Abraham,  must  be  not  merely  of  chronological,  but  of 
truly  historical  importance  in  the  highest  meaning  of  the 
term.  ...  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  agreement  we  have 
pointed  out  between  the  true  chronological  thread,  as  it 
is  represented  to  us  by  the  genealogies,  and  the  Egyptian 
history,  as  well  as  the  confirmation  of  so  many  notices 
respecting  Egypt,  from  the  time  of  Moses  and  Joseph, 
establishes  a  far  greater  historical  character  for  the  Hebrew 
accounts,  as  far  back  as  Abraham,  than  would  have  ever 
been  allowed  them  by  a  strict  criticism,  had  we  been  obliged 


THE   AGE   OF    MANKIND.  213 

to  ascribe  to  the  old  authorities  themselves  the  numbers 
which  were  inserted  at  a  later  age." 

The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  share  with  us  the  gratification 
of  finding  this  accomplished  man  a  witness  so  unimpeach- 
able at  the  last  for  the  historical  truthfulness  of  the  Mosaic 
books,  and  not  only  rendering  his  rare  acquisitions  tributary 
to  the  general  support  of  ancient  Scripture,  but,  whatever 
corrections  he  feels  called  on  to  make  in  certain  conflicting 
numerals,  actually  deriving  from  the  Hebrew  genealogies 
the  very  best  tests  of  his  own  monumental  restorations. 

Nor  is  the  remark  here  out  of  place,  how  surely  all 
thorough  research  is  found  in  the  end  to  corroborate  the 
Bible  on  the  whole.  Difficulties  may  indeed  be  exhibited 
in  a  clearer  light,  and  errors  made  more  manifest,  which 
have,  in  some  way,  during  the  progress  of  ages,  found 
place  in  the  documentary  vehicles  of  revelation,  but  the 
reality  of  the  truth  itself,  and  the  general  accuracy  of  its 
accompanying  narrative,  never  fail  to  be  in  the  end  more 
and  more  signally  established.  Strikingly  is  this  exem- 
plified in  the  case  before  us.  Lepsius,  as  a  later  and  more 
advanced  explorer  of  the  monuments  and  their  associated 
questions  than  Biinsen,  has  not  only  verified  the  Scripture 
history  up  to  the  time  of  Solomon,  but  has  satisfactorily 
traced  its  chronology  up  to  Abraham.  He  has  discovered, 
it  is  true,  that  certain  numbers,  heretofore  relied  upon  as 
pertaining  to  the  inspired  history,  must  have  some  other 
than  a  chronological  meaning,  or  must  be  regarded  as  in- 
cidental errors,  through  imperfection  in  the  channels  by 
which  revelation  is  transmitted  from  age  to  age ;  but  after 


214*  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

thus  eliminating  the  error,  he  finds  the  narrative  not  only 
trustworthy,  but  standard  truth.  Such  researches,  free, 
full,  and  withal  reverential,  are  of  incalculable  value.  They 
interfere  sometimes,  indeed,  with  favorite  yet  erroneous 
ideas,  by  furnishing  means  for  a  truer  comprehension  of  the 
elements  of  Scripture ;  but  they  never  contradict  its  actual 
utterances.  So  far  otherwise,  they  always  expand  and 
harmonize  them.  Just,  then,  as  the  structure  of  the  sacred 
narrative  respecting  the  physical  world,  though  adapted 
not  to  scientific  but  to  ordinary  intelligence,  according  to 
the  common  appearances  of  things,  has  been  ascertained 
fairly  and  marvelously  to  admit,  and  to  be,  on  the  whole, 
illustrated  and  confirmed  by  the  grand  discoveries  of 
astronomy,  geology,  etc.,  a  fact  of  itself  well-nigh  con- 
clusive respecting  the  superhuman  character  of  such  nar- 
rative, since  no  other  ancient  cosmology  can,  and  none  other 
merely  human  could,  face  modern  science  without  absolute 
and  irreconcilable  contradictions,  even  so  do  the  fullest 
results  of  Egyptian  research  and  the  latest  developments 
of  universal  history  fall  in  with,  illustrate,  and  more  con- 
vincingly display  the  general  fidelity  of  even  minute 
Scripture  history. 

Gladly,  however,  as  we  pause  to  notice  another  trium- 
phant vindication  of  the  sacred  oracles,  in  the  coincidences 
brought  to  light  by  Lepsius,  we  must  now  proceed  with 
our  inquiry  into  the  Scripture  record  of  ancient  times. 
And  to  do  so  satisfactorily  we  have  to  look  a  little  into 
the  diverse  periods  assigned  by  the  Hebrew,  Samaritan, 
and  Septuagint  texts,  to  the  pre-Abrahamic  Patriarchs, 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  "215 

before  the  births  of  their  eldest  sons ;  periods  which  con- 
stitute the  only  Scripture  basis  for  any  chronological 
estimate  of  the  era  of  the  deluge,  or  of  the  creation  of 
man. 

On  the  questions  connected  with  these,  which  have  for 
two  thousand  years  called  forth,  on  opposite  sides,  all  the 
resources  of  genius  and  learning,  any  dogmatism  is  im- 
pertinent folly.  We  can  only  say  that  after  due  care  Jbe- 
stowed  upon  the  inquiries  of  Usher,  Jackson,  Hales,  and 
others,  and  patient  investigation  for  ourselves,  we  are  satis- 
fied to  adopt  the  Hebrew  numbers,  as  least  likely  to  have  been 
systematically  changed,  though  Dr.  Seyffarth  and  others  as- 
sign this  very  reason  for  preferring  the  Septuagint.  Nor  are 
we  disturbed,  as  there  is  no  good  reason  why  we  should  be, 
by  the  fact  that  such  variations  occur  in  unessential  elements 
of  the  documents  of  revelation,  as  if  the  credit  to  which  those 
documents  are  entitled,  because  of  their  inspired  character, 
were  thereby  impaired.  That  a  very  special  guardianship 
of  Divine  Providence  has  been,  is,  and  ever  will  be,  ex- 
tended over  the  inspired  books,  to  preserve  them  from  all 
ruinous,  or  even  serious  corruption,  we  have  abundant 
reason  to  believe ;  but  that  such  guardianship  is  conducted 
through  human  vigilance,  we  also  know,  and  that  as  to 
visible  modes  of  preservation  and  transmission,  the  sacred 
records  have  been  left  subject  to  some,  at  least,  of  the 
vicissitudes  incident  to  human  infirmity.  No  other  mode, 
indeed,  of  conveying  a  revelation  to  all  parts  of  the  world 
and  all  generations  of  men  could,  so  far  as  we  know,  be 
adopted,  without  interfering  with  the  conditions  of  a  moral 


276*  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

probation.  Such  limited  contingency,  however,  on  the  oue 
hand,  and  such  presiding  care  on  the  other,  are  at  once 
consistent  with  the  undisturbed  relations  of  human  respons- 
ibility, and  with  the  absolute  integrity  of  all  that  is  essen- 
tial in  revealed  truth. 

This  consideration  is  particularly  applicable  to  the  whole 
system  of  numbers  found  in  the  Bible.  While  they  con- 
stitute no  essential  part  of  revealed  truth,  but  stand  only 
as  adjuncts  incidentally  associated  with  it,  they  are,  of  all 
forms  of  idea  or  expression,  least  likely  to  remain  unvaried 
in  frequent  quotations  and  transcriptions.  And  especially 
was  this  the  case  when  figures  had  not  come  into  use,  and 
the  ordinary  alphabetical  signs  had  to  be  employed  as 
numerals.  No  one  can  glance  at  a  Hebrew  or  Greek 
alphabet,  without  remarking  how  minute  a  change  would 
substitute  one  letter  for  another,  and  how 'very  liable 
ancient  transcribers  must  have  been  to  omit  or  introduce 
some  dash  or  point,  thereby  occasioning  an  unobserved 
numerical  disagreement,  which  might  afterwards  have  a 
serious  aspect.  By  so  simple  and  obvious  a  reflection 
much  of  the  perplexity  is  removed,  which  otherwise  at- 
taches to  the  diversities  between  the  old  texts,  and  to  the 
apparent  discrepancies  in  the  same  text. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  may  be  justly  said  respecting 
such  instances  of  seemingly  erroneous  numerations  as  those 
dwelt  upon  by  our  critics.  And  we  think  it  well  to  add  a 
suggestion  or  two  concerning  these,  before  examining  the 
period  anterior  to  Abraham. 

The  distinct  mention  of  480  years,  1  Kings,  vi.  1,  (sup- 


THE    AGE    OF    MANKIND.  277 

posing  no  mistake,)  to  Solomon's  temple,  '"'after  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  were  come  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  we 
cannot  regard  with  Lepsius  as  merely  intended  in  some 
symbolical  sense.  Nor  can  we  see,  as  Bunsen  seems  to  do, 
though  he  rather  admits  the  480  years  to  be  historical,  that 
there  is  any  necessary  conflict  between  that  period  and  the 
430  years  of  St.  Paul.  (Acts,  xiii.  20.)  The  Apostle  evi- 
dently embraces  the  whole  period  from  Moses  to  David  in 
a  general  and  not  exact  enumeration,  describing  it  as 
"about  the  space"  of  so  many  years;  whereas  the  be- 
ginning of  the  time  specified  1  Kings,  vi.  1,  may  have  been 
reckoned  from  some  date  unknown  to  us,  considered  as 
marking  the  establishment  of  the  Israelites  in  Palestine, 
that  being  only  the  completion  of  their  removal  from 
Egypt.  Again,  in  regard  to  the  400  years  affliction, 
Genesis,  xv.  13 ;  the  430  years  sojourn  in  Egypt,  Exodus, 
xii.  40;  the  400  years  evil,  Acts,  vii.  6;  and  the  430 
years,  from  the  Abrahamic  Covenant  to  the  Law,  Gal.  iii. 
17,  the  discrepancies  may  very  well  be  only  apparent. 
The  prophecy  in  Genesis  is  manifestly  only  in  general 
terms,  and  it  is  strictly  quoted  in  Acts ;  while  the  state- 
ment in  Exodus  may,  according  to  the  form  given  it  by  the 
70,  be  understood  as  embracing  the  whole  time  from 
Abraham.  And  as  St.  Paul's  argument  in  Galatians  de- 
pends not  at  all  on  any  particular  number,  he  may  speak 
only  hypothetically  of  some  computation  then  commonly 
received  from  the  Septuagint.  Nor  are  the  statements 
respecting  that  period  invalidated  by  the  circumstance, 
remarkable  as  it  is,  that  the  interval  between  Abraham's 

24 


278  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

arrival  in  Canaan  and  Jacob's  going  down  into  Egypt  is 
found,  by  adding  the  several  ages  which  compose  it,  to  be 
exactly  half  of  the  430  years  of  Exodus  xii.  and  Gal.  iii. 
The  coincidence  must,  no  doubt,  quicken  the  eye  of  criti- 
cism, but  the  correspondence  is  not  therefore  unreal. 

But  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  these  cases,  they  do 
certainly  seem  to  render  this  much  clear,  that  the  Scrip- 
tures, as  they  have  reached  us,  do  not  furnish  a  positive 
systematic  chronology  for  the  periods  between  Solomon 
and  Moses,  and  Moses  and  Abraham,  though  they  do, 
as  certainly,  afford  approximate  data  the  most  reliable  for 
a  general  estimate  of  that  entire  interval.  Central  history 
is  given,  with  a  margin  for  adjustment  in  details. 

And  this,  there  is  reason  to  infer,  is  still  more  remark- 
ably the  case  with  the  brief  scriptural  sketch  of  the  pre- 
Abrahamic  ages.  Circumstances  connected  with  the  trans- 
mitted genealogies  of  those  ages,  the  analogies  of  other 
genealogical  registers  given  in  the  Bible,  and  the  general 
Eastern  custom  in  such  matters,  afford  at  least  room  for 
the  supposition,  that  all  the  individuals  who  existed  in  the 
series  are  not  mentioned  in  the  record.  If  this  principle 
of  interpretation  be  admitted,  the  era  of  the  deluge  may 
readily  be  removed  backward  to  suit  the  old  Egyptian 
chronology,  believed  by  Biinsen  and  Lepsius  to  be  sub- 
stantiated, or  to  meet  any  other  fairly  established  claim  of 
history.  Indeed,  on  this  supposition  the  epoch  of  man's 
creation  has  no  specific  determination  in  the  Scriptures. 
If  so,  our  ordinary  estimates,  "Anno  mundi,"  are  not  ab- 
solute measures,  from  the  starting-point  on  the  track  of 


THE   AGE   OP   MANKIND.  279 

time,  but  merely  convenient  relative  indexes,  like  highway 
mile-posts,  marked  from  no  known  beginning.  We  may 
count  them  as  we  travel,  and  note  how  we  progress,  but 
they  tell  us  not  how  far  back  lies  the  unknown  origin  of 
the  route. 

Respecting  the  opening  for  such  interpretation,  we  ob- 
serve that  the  70  introduce  a  Cainan  between  Arphaxad 
and  Sala  in  Genesis,  x.  24,  though  on  what  authority  we 
do  not  know,  as  no  mention  of  him  is  made  in  our  Hebrew 
copies  of  Genesis,  x.,  and  the  70  do  not  repeat  his  name 
in  their  register,  1  Chronicles,  i.  IT.  Yet  St.  Luke  in- 
cludes him  in  the  family  succession  from  Noah  to  Abraham, 
recorded  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  gospel.  This  record 
must  of  course  be  admitted  as  of  highest  authority,  under 
the  safest  view  of  New  Testament  inspiration.  One  name 
was,  it  must  then  be  admitted,  passed  over  in  the  Hebrew 
registers  of  Abraham's  ancestors,  and  in  the  Septuagiiit 
lists,  except  in  a  single  instance.  That  other  names  may 
not  have  been  similarly  omitted  can  hardly  be  made  out; 
for,  although  the  Evangelist  found  reason  to  restore  this 
individual  to  his  place  between  Sala  and  Arphaxad,  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  he  must  necessarily  have  been  in- 
structed to  restore  every  other  name  that  might  have  been 
omitted  in  the  original  patriarchal  family  tables.  The 
reality  of  succession,  which,  apparently,  he  chiefly  intended 
to  convey,  is  the  same,  whether  reckoned  from  father  to 
son,  or  from  grandfather  to  grandson,  or  great-grandson. 
This  we  see  exemplified  in  the  line  of  priests,  1  Kings,  iv. 
2,  and  1  Chronicles,  vi.  8,  9.  In  the  one  case  "Azariah, 


280  SCIENCE   A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

the  son  of  Zaclock  the  priest/'  is  designated ;  in  the  other, 
the  form  of  record  is,  "Zadock  begat  Ahiinaaz,  and 
Ahiraaaz  begat  Azariah,"  making  Azariah  not  strictly  the 
son,  but  the  grandson  of  Zadock.  Similar  instances  occur 
in  other  places.  In  fact,  as  Layard  states  in  his  last 
volume,  chap,  xxvi.,  "The  term  'son  of  appears  to  have 
been  used  throughout  the  East  in  those  days,  (the  early 
Nineveh  period,)  as  it  still  is,  to  denote  connection  gen- 
erally." Consecutive  names,  therefore,  are  not  necessarily 
given  in  the  genealogical  tables.  Indeed,  some  singular 
examples  of  apparent  omissions  in  such  tables  force  them- 
selves upon  attention.  For  example,  1  Chronicles,  vi.  1-4, 
gives  only  six  generations  from  Levi  to  his  descendant 
Phineas ;  whereas  in  chapter  vii.  of  the  same  book,  verses 
23-27,  eleven  generations  are  given  from  Joseph,  who  was 
contemporary  with  Levi,  to  his  descendant  Joshua,  who  was 
contemporary  with  Phineas. 

Gaps,  then,  may  exist  in  the  patriarchial  lists — nay,  it 
would  even  seem  to  be  rendered  probable  by  such  consid- 
erations, that  they  do  exist.  If  so,  those  lists  give  no  full 
view  of  the  series  or  its  time,  though  they  undoubtedly  fur- 
nish a  general  historical  succession,  as  elevation  beyond 
elevation  may  unerringly  mark  for  the  traveler  his  distant 
way,  while  no  glimpse  is  gotten  of  interlying  valleys. 

There  seems,  therefore,  no  conclusive  objection  to  the 
idea  suggested  by  Michaelis  and  adopted  by  the  sagacious 
Prichard,  that  generations  have  been  omitted  in  the  earlier 
genealogies.  On  the  contrary,  this  supposition  appears,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  be  sustained  by  the  greater  probability. 


THE   AGE    OF    MANKIND.  281 

At  any  rate,  it  is  sufficiently  likely,  to  cast  the  gravest 
doubt  over  the  customary  computation  of  the  Adamic  era. 
Scripture  itself,  therefore,  we  conclude,  does  not  specify 
the  number  of  centuries  that  have  rolled  over  mankind. 
Not  even  the  venerable  sacred  history  tells,  with  voice  un- 
mistakable, how  far  we  now  are  from  the  dawn  of  human 
time.  No  record,  then,  has  handed  down  all  the  reckon- 
ing from  the  first,  and  it  has  not  pleased  Him  whose  glance 
embraces  all  time  to  supply  the  ancient  omissions.  Hence 
we  know  not,  we  probably  never  shall  know  on  earth,  at 
what  age,  before  our  day,  this  planet  received 

•     •    "A  creature,  who,  not  prone 
And  brute  as  other  creatures,  but  endued 
With  sanctity  of  reason,  might  (erect 
His  stature,  and  upright  with  front  serene,) 
Govern  the  rest,  self-knowing,     .     .     . 
And  worship  God  supreme,  who  made  him  chief 
Of  all  His  works."     .     .     . 

We  cannot  even  find  with  certainty  the  date  of  the  later 
day,  when 

"The  voice  that  taught  the  deep  his  bounds  to  know, 
*Thus  far,  oh  sea!  nor  farther  shalt  thou  go, 
Sent  forth  the  floods,  commissioned  to  devour, 
With  boundless  license  and  resistless  power." 

But  though  we  think  this  conclusion  fairly  indicated  by 
a  careful  examination  of  the  whole  case,  and  are  prepared 
to  recognize,  as  allowable,  a  considerably  more  extended 
chronology  than  that  in  common  use,  we  do  not  feel  called 
upon  to  admit  that  the  Egyptian  periods  are  so  made  out 
as  to  require  or  even  sanction  a  departure  from  the  estab- 

24* 


282  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

lished  conventional  reckoning.  Biinsen  and  Lepsius  are 
indeed  very  confident  concerning  those  periods,  and  they 
havo  had  opportunities  of  investigation  which  we  do  not 
pretend  to  have  approximated.  Yet  we  have  carefully  ex- 
amined their  researches,  as  well  as  those  of  Rossellini  and 
Wilkinson,  and  we  cannot  but  see  reason  for  still  withhold- 
ing a  confident  assent  to  their  system.  Dr.  Seyffarth 
gives  also,  we  find,  significant  reasons  for  allowing  to  the 
Egyptian  empire  only  2781  years  B.C.  We  acknowledge 
that  Lepsius  makes  out  a  strong  case,  especially  from  the 
agreement  of  his  restorations  with  the  extended  Levitical 
registers,  and  that  as  we  accept  this  as  a  collateral  testi- 
mony in  favor  of  the  Bible  history,  so  it  bears  forcibly  in, 
favor  of  his  Pharaohnic  ages,  so  far  as  the  parallel  goes. 
That,  however,  is  not  very  far.  And  for  the  rest,  we  can- 
iiot  but  have  misgivings.  The  very  elaborate  arguments 
on  the  subject  imply  that  the  matter  is  far  from  being  clear. 
And  it  is  obvious  that,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  grave 
doubts  attach  to  the  authorities  on  which,  in  part  at  least, 
our  learned  friends  rely.  Manetho,  the  so-described  Egyp- 
tian priest,  who  is  reported  to  have  written  in  Greek,  under 
one  of  the  Ptolemies,  accounts  of  the  ancient  annals  pre- 
served in  hieroglyphics  on  the  monuments  of  the  temples, 
etc.,  is  known  only  in  fragments  of  his  works  handed  down 
by  one  or  two  authors  of  the  succeeding  centuries,  and 
chiefly  conveyed  to  our  time  through  Syncellus,  a  Byzan- 
tine monk  of  about  A.D.  800.  And  these  fragments  of 
Manetho  furnish  the  general  guidance  to  Egyptologists,  in 
their  endeavors  to  construct  a  connected  chain,  from  the 


THE    AGE    OP    MANKIND.  283 

scattered  links  of  information  found  within  a  few  years  on 
the  monuments.  But,  in  the  first  place,  if  Manetho  were 
a  genuine  Egyptian  author,  a  point  seriously  mooted  by 
Hengstenberg  and  others,  he  may  not  be  correctly  re- 
ported; indeed,  his  advocates  acknowledge  that  in  some 
cases  he  is  not,  In  the  next  place,  he  may  not  have  accu- 
rately given  the  ancient  records;  and  Biinsen  contends 
that  there  was  a  pseudo-Manetho,  who  perpetrated  enor- 
mous fictions.  And,  in  the  third  place,  it  is  no  slight  tax 
on  belief,  that  the  makers  of  the  monuments  were  alto- 
gether truthful  in  their  representations.  Over  and  above 
which  considerations,  is  the  further  doubt  unavoidably  at- 
taching to  the  interpretation  of  records  still  so  imperfectly 
comprehended  as  the  Egyptian. 

It  may  be,  indeed,  that  the  doubts  raised  by  these  con- 
siderations would  disappear,  or  greatly  diminish,  were  our 
acquaintance  with  the  facts  as  full  as  that  of  Professor 
Lepsius.  But  with  the  light  we  have,  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  receive,  as  established,  the  very  high  antiquity  claimed 
for  the  old  Egyptian  empire.  At  the  same  time,  we  have 
great  respect  for  the  researches  and  conclusions  of  such 
men  as  Lepsius,  and  are  very  far  from  being  indisposed  to 
accept  his  results  when  satisfactorily  established.  Nay,  we 
are  free  to  admit  that  the  ancient  term  thus  claimed  for  the 
Egyptian  polity  seems  to  be  rendered  less  improbable  by 
the  evidence  of  a  like  remote  past  in  the  old  Chinese 
records  and  calendar.  (See  Williams's  "  Middle  Kingdom," 
vol.  ii.  p.  146.)  There  is,  in  our  view,  no  necessary  con- 
flict between  the  remotest  chronology  that  may  be  made 


284  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS    FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

out  from  Egypt,  or  any  other  quarter,  and  the  Scriptures, 
as  they  may  be  fairly  interpreted. 

Time  and  advancing  knowledge  will  doubtless  make 
some  things  clear  that  are  now  obscure  on  these  subjects; 
and  such  elucidation  we  are  content  to  await,  with  full  con- 
fidence in  the  everlasting  verities  of  the  blessed  Bible,  and 
in  the  wonderful  adaptedness  of  the  inspired  oracles  to 
whatever  real  discoveries  may  be  made  in  any  department 
of  human  inquiry. 

But  although  there  be  some  indefiniteness  in  the  old 
time-records  of  the  sacred  books,  they  undoubtedly  furnish 
the  only  reliable  data  for  approximating  the  past  term  of 
our  species.  They  may  not  supply  the  means  by  which  we 
can  ascend,  in  regular  course,  the  current  of  time,  and 
measure  its  entire  length,  but  they  place  us  on  an  eminence 
whence  one,  and  another,  and  another  extended  reach  of 
the  mighty  stream  can  be  distinctly  seen,  and  whence,  not- 
withstanding some  meanderings  which  may  be  hidden  from 
view,  a  satisfactory  general  estimate  may  be  formed  of  its 
whole  extent.  The  six  thousand  in  use  as  the  standard 
expression  for  this  measure  may  be  within  the  fact  by  a 
good  many  centuries,  and  yet  it  may  be  wholly  unnecessary 
to  change  the  received  mode  of  reckoning  based  on  the 
estimate  that  the  human  family  is  about  six  thousand  years 
old. 

If,  however,  the  inspired  history  does  not  specify  our 
exact  age,  it  shows  the  birthday  of  mankind  as  an  event 
not  only  very  recent,  relatively,  in  the  history  of  our  planet, 
but  most  conspicuous  amid  the  wonders  of  which  it  has 


THE   AGE    OF   MANKIND.  285 

been  the  scene.  It  takes  us  to  a  point  not  distant  from 
our  passing  day,  where  we  look  upon  that  miracle  of  crea- 
tion, the  first  man.  It  bids  us  view  the  vast  solitude  of 
nature  all  untenanted  by  a  single  creature  that  can  think, 
or  speak,  or  love.  The  heavens  are  lit  with  glory,  but 
there  is  no  eye  to  gaze  delighted  on  their  splendor.  The 
ocean  rolls  in  power,  but  there  is  no  ear  to  measure  its  ma- 
jestic music.  The  fields  groan  with  yellow  grain  and  the 
trees  with  golden  fruits,  but  there  is  no  hand  to  gather  in 
their  treasures.  The  flowers  bloom  and  beautify  the  world, 
but  there  is  no  appreciative  sense  that  catches  their  fra- 
grance or  that  rejoices  in  their  loveliness.  The  inspired 
word  then  bids  us  look  again :  Eden  is  occupied  by  know- 
ing, conversing,  adoring  creatures.  The  fiat  has  gone 
forth,  "Let  us  make  man  in  our  image;"  the  clay  has 
taken  form  and  proportion  unparalleled  on  earth;  the  Lord 
has  breathed  thereinto  the  breath  of  life,  and  living  souls, 
amid  priceless  privileges,  have  entered  upon  their  charge 
and  destiny. 

As  we  look  upon  that  miracle,  the  mighty  issues  it  in- 
volves come  crowding  on  the  sight.  Sin,  sorrow,  death,  in 
ever-extending  course,  through  all  the  ages.  Forbearance, 
mercy,  grace,  in  long  and  wondrous  exercise.  Iniquity  at 
length  subdued.  A  Saviour  recognized  in  all  lands.  The 
Father's  kingdom  come,  and  his  will  done  on  earth  as  in 
heaven.  Then — the  great  consummation  ! 

In  the  presence  of  that  ancient  miracle,  catching  glimpses 
of  this  new  creation,  faith  may  well  kindle  into  glowing  utter- 
ance : — 


286  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

"Oh  scenes  surpassing  fable,  and  yet  true! 
Scenes  of  accomplished  bliss,  which  who  can  see, 
Though  but  in  distant  prospect,  and  not  feel 
His  soul  refreshed  with  foretaste  of  the  joy?" 

And  however  far  in  the  future  may  be  the  realization  of 
this,  or  however  unsustained,  in  reference  to  the  past,  the 
old  idea  of  a  Sabbatical  age,  we  may  still  anticipate  the 
day  when,  if  not  numerically,  yet  essentially,  the  sketch  of 
the  sweet  bard  of  Olney  shall  be  more  than  realized  : — 

"The  time  of  rest,  the  promised  Sabbath,  comes. 
Six  thousand  years  of  sorrow  have  well-nigh 
Fulfilled  their  tardy  and  disastrous  course 
Over  a  sinful  .world;  and  what  remains 
Of  this  tempestuous  state  of  human  things 
Is  merely  as  the  working  of  a  sea 
Before  a  calm,  that  rocks  itself  to  rest." 


DISCUSSION  Y. 

THE  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES. 

THAT  extensive  communities  of  men  have,  at  various 
periods,  disappeared  from  the  regions  which  they  pre- 
viously occupied,  and  given  place  to  or  become  merged  in 
others  of  different  characteristics,  is  a  fact  exhibited  in 
nearly  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  every  age  of  his- 
tory. We  have  almost  seen  with  our  own  eyes  the  waning 
of  Indian  council-fires,  the  extinction  of  once  powerful 
aboriginal  tribes,  and  the  rise  of  the  mightiest  of  civilized 
nations,  where,  but  as  yesterday,  the  red  man  reared  his 
rude  wigwam  and  fashioned  his  simple  armor.  Our  an- 
cestors of  the  imperial  island  had,  at  no  very  distant  age, 
experienced  changes  which,  if  less  marked,  were,  on  the 
whole,  scarcely  less  significant.  The  stern,  inflexible  Celt, 
whom  the  genius  of  Caesar  and  the  disciplined  energy  of 
Rome  failed  at  last  to  subdue,  yielded,  in  time,  to  the 
enterprising,  dauntless,  progressive  Teuton ;  and  the  more 
than  semi-barbarous  Britain  of  Caractacus  and  Boadicea, 
became  the  enlightened  England  of  Alfred,  of  Wickliff'e, 
and  of  Bacon. 

But  change,  the  reader  need  scarce  be  reminded,  has  not 
always  been  improvement.  On  the  contrary,  in  instances 
not  a  few  has  civilization  gone  backward.  Revolution  has 
resulted  in  disaster;  and  darkness  has  supervened  where 

(287) 


288  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THV.   BIBLE. 

the  culture  of  ages  had  diffused  no  despicable  light.  Thus 
was  it  when  the  iron  empire  of  Romulus  and  Augustus, 
enfeebled  by  long  corrosions  of  vice,  crumbled  beneath  the 
assaults  of  undisciplined  barbarians.  And  thus  was  it 
when  successive  convulsions  overwhelmed  Babylon  and 
Thebes,  Jerusalem  and  Athens,  Antioch  and  Byzantium, 
and  resigned  their  ancient  glories  to  be  trampled  in  the 
dust  by  the  lawless  Arab  and  the  sensual  Turk. 

To  describe  these  great  alternations  in  society,  not  only 
truthfully  but  with  vividness,  to  trace  them  satisfactorily  to 
their  causes,  and  so  to  exhibit  the  lessons  they  teach,  as  at 
once  to  convince  the  judgment  and  move  the  heart,  is  the 
appropriate  office  of  history.  And  it  is  as  they  thus  ex- 
emplify the  influences  which  determine  man's  weal  or  woe, 
that  the  records  of  the  past  become  no  less  instructive  than 
they  are  fascinating. 

Our  historical  delineations  are,  however,  very  far  from 
embracing  all  the  mighty  vicissitudes  which  are  otherwise 
evidenced  as  having  been  experienced  by  mankind.  The 
Sacred  Scriptures  themselves,  clear,  comprehensive,  satis- 
factory as  they  are  in  regard  to  certain  great  leading  facts 
pertaining  to  humanity,  deal  mainly  with  but  a  single,  and 
that  a  comparatively  obscure,  people.  Only  in  a  way  frag- 
mentary and  incidental,  do  they  touch  upon  the  concerns 
of  a  few  other  nations,  as  they  came  in  contact  with  the 
race  chosen  to  be  the  medium  of  heaven's  communications 
with  our  world.  But  restricted  as  are  these  notices,  they 
are  all  we  have  throughout  a  long  series  of  primitive  ages. 
Profane  history  everywhere  presents  the  phenomenon  of 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  289 

its  own  birth  when  the  world's  population  was  already 
venerable  with  uncounted  years.  It  everywhere  found 
tokens  of  antecedent  changes,  and  monuments  of  races 
whose  career  was  shrouded  in  the  mists  of  fable,  while 
their  origin  was  lost  in  the  depths  of  mystery.  This  phe- 
nomenon, it  is  true,  we  can  explain.  It  was  the  natural 
result  of  a  single  practical  deficiency  among  the  nations, 
during  an  indefinite  period.  Their  failure  to  contrive  the 
elements  of  a  written  language,  or  to  recover  them  where 
they  had  been  lost.  During  the  period,  whatever  its  ex- 
tent, through  which  this  great  want  prevailed,  occurrences 
could  be  transmitted  'only  by  oral  tradition.  But,  as  foot- 
prints on  the  sand  are  obliterated  by  wind  or  wave,  so  is 
truth  lost  that  is  committed  only  to  tradition ;  or  it  is 
thoroughly  corrupted  by  admixture  with  fictions  of  every 
kind,  as  the  crystal  stream  becomes  defiled  by  confluence 
with  impure,  turbid  waters.  Thus  to  explain,  however, 
the  mystery  which  envelops  the  pre-historical  ages  and 
non-historical  races  is  not  by  any  means  to  supply  their 
lost  annals,  nor  find  the  links  which  connect  them  with 
the  known  system  of  human  development.  And  yet  some- 
thing of  this  kind  may  be  done.  There  are  means  by 
which  thoughtful  research  may  restore,  and  has  restored, 
more  than  a  little  of  lost  history.  There  are  appliances 
through  which  the  resolute  spirit  of  truth-seeking  inquiry 
may,  as  it  were,  summon  back  to  reliable  utterance  many  a 
mouldered  generation,  and  gather  from  lips  long  silent  the 
story  of  their  times.  These  means  are  the  monuments 
which  buried  races  of  men  have  left  behind  them,  in  almost 


290  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR    TIIE   BIBLE. 

every  quarter  of  the  globe.  These  appliances  are  extensive 
critical  examinations  of  those  monuments,  after  the  sure 
method  of  inductive  science.  It  is  to  a  brief  investigation 
of  this  kind  that  attention  is  now  invited. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  appears  from  one  or  two 
plain  considerations.  In  the  first  place,  these  monumental 
relics  of  ancient  races  have  been  appealed  to  by  the  ad- 
versaries of  revelation  as  furnishing  evidence  in  conflict 
with  the  teachings  of  our  holy  books.  But  more  ample 
examination  is  here,  as  in  other  departments  of  inquiry, 
showing  that  the  sum  total  of  testimony  is  greatly  in  favor 
of  the  disclosures  originally  presented  in  the  Bible.  This 
evidence  it  is  certainly  desirable  to  have  presented  in  some 
clear  and  condensed  form.  Ar,d  in  the  next  place,  the  at- 
tentive contemplation  of  such  memorials  of  the  past  is, 
on  many  accounts,  calculated  to  promote  the  high  pur- 
poses of  rational  culture.  It  enlarges  the  sphere  of  thought 
and  sympathy.  It  carries  the  mind  back  into  ages  where 
it  cannot  but  experience  the  double  influence  of  the  strange 
and  the  ancient.  It  quickens  interest  in  the  common  des- 
tiny of  the  great  brotherhood  of  mankind.  And  it  stirs 
generous  emotions  by  placing  the  spectator  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  struggles,  the  sufferings,  and  the  achievements 
of  his  long-forgotten  brethren.  It  was  under  the  expe- 
rience of  emotions  of  this  kind,  excited  by  the  view  of  an 
old  ruin  in  the  British  Islands,  that  Dr.  Johnson  recorded 
that  utterance  of  wisdom,  which  is  as  strikingly  beautiful 
as  it  is  emphatically  just:  "Whatever  withdraws  us  from 
the  power  of  our  senses;  whatever  makes  the  past,  the 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  291 

distant,  or  the  future,  predominate  over  the  present,  ad- 
vances us  in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings.  Far  from  me 
and  from  my  friends  be  such  frigid  philosophy,  as  may  con- 
duct us  unmoved  over  any  ground  which  has  been  dignified 
by  wisdom,  bravery,  or  virtue.  That  man  is  little  to  be 
envied,  whose  patriotism  would  not  gain  force  upon  the 
plain  of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer 
among  the  ruins  of  lona." 

Assured,  then,  that  the  theme  is  worthy  of  attention,  we 
proceed  to  its  development. 

Our  plan  is  simple.  We  shall  first  survey,  with  as  rapid 
a  glance  as  may  consist  with  profit,  specimens  of  the 
monuments  which  decayed  races  have  left  in  different  parts 
of  the  world  ;  endeavoring  so  to  group  them,  that  a  bird's- 
eye  view  may  be  gotten  of  their  characteristics  and  rela- 
tions. We  shall  then  suggest  the  inferences  they  seem 
clearly  to  warrant,  and  urge  the  conclusions  they  fairly 
establish. 

We  begin  with  relics  in  our  own  country.  These  are, 
undoubtedly,  as  we  shall  see,  memorials  of  races  akin,  in 
general  character,  to  the  red  men  who  occupied  the  con- 
tinent, at  the  time  of  its  discovery,  from  Cape  Horn  to  the 
Arctic  Circle.  In  glancing  at  these  monuments,  it  is 
proper  to  notice  the  prejudice  which  certain  writers  in- 
terested in  discrediting  the  great  principle  of  human 
brotherhood,  have  endeavored  to  attach  to  the  red  race. 
They  have  been  represented  as  creatures  so  low  in  the 
scale  of  rational  endowment,  as  to  be  entitled  to  the 
epithet  "cinnamon-colored  vermin,"  etc.  This  is,  assur- 


292  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   TOR   THE    BIBLE. 

edly,  an  unamiable  misrepresentation.  The  Indian  is,  in- 
deed, under  every  variety,  confessedly  an  example  of  the  de- 
grading effects  of  ignorance  and  want,  and  of  the  fixed- 
ness, also,  with  which  hereditary  traits  are  stamped  upon 
communities,  by  influences  habitually  operating  through 
long  ages.  But  he  is  very  far  from  being  the  cipher  or  the 
wretch,  relationship  with  whom  should  be  indignantly 
scorned.  He  has  often  exhibited  qualities  of  both  mind 
and  character  immensely  above  the  average  European 
standard.  De  Witt  Clinton,  in  his  discourse  before  the 
Xew  York  Historical  Society,  in  1811,  did  not  overstate 
the  case,  when  he  said  of  the  Iroquois:  "No  part  of 
America  contains  a  people  which  display  the  energies 
of  the  human  character  in  a  more  conspicuous  manner, 
whether  in  light  or  shade,  in  the  exhibition  of  great  vir- 
tues or  talents,  or  of  great  defects."  The  remark  might 
certainly  be  extended  to  other  tribes.  Who  is  not  familiar 
with  the  high  endowments  of  the  celebrated  Pocahontas — 
her  feminine  tenderness — her  devoted  fidelity?  Who  is 
surprised  that  distinguished  families  claim  it  as  an  honor 
that  they  inherit  the  blood  of  this  Indian  heroine  ?  Who 
imagines  that  the  proudest  pedigree  of  the  world  has 
anything  to  boast  over  the  descendants  of  this  noble  char- 
acter ? 

The  American  aboriginal  monuments  are  of  various 
kinds,  and  appear  in  every  extensive  region  of  the  conti- 
nent. They  may  be  regarded  as  radiating  from  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  to  the  lowest  point  of  the  Old  Em- 
pire of  the  Incas,  on  the  south ;  and  on  the  north,  through- 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  293 

out  the  whole  extent  of  what  is  now  the  magnificent  domain 
of  the  United  States. 

Rather  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  a  party  of 
Spanish  travelers,  crossing  the  Mexican  province  of  Chi- 
apas, unexpectedly  discovered,  in  an  extensive  forest,  the 
ruins  of  immense  stone  buildings,  which  covered  an  area 
of  many  miles.  The  place  had  been  previously  unheard 
of.  Its  name,  with  its  people,  had  disappeared.  From  an 
Indian  village,  however,  not  far  distant,  a  name  was  bor- 
rowed ;  and  the  forgotten  ruins  have  since  been  known  as 
the  City  of  Palenque. 

The  extent  and  magnificence  of  these  remains  conclu- 
sively prove  that  here  must  have  stood,  in  some  ancient 
time,  a  great  city — the  capital  of  a  people,  numerous, 
powerful,  and  possessing  more  than  a  few  appliances  of 
art.  When  the  busy  hum  of  life  filled  these  halls;  at 
what  date  their  dispossessed  occupants,  fleeing  from  ruth- 
less invaders,  looked  for  the  last  time  upon  the  homes  of 
their  fathers,  or,  awaiting  attack,  perished  around  their 
hearths  and  altars,  no  record  remains  to  tell.  The  old 
stones  themselves  must  be  interrogated  for  the  story. 

It  seems  clear  that  the  people  who  left  behind  them  these 
traces  preceded  the  Aztecs,  or  Mexicans  of  Cortes'  time. 
This  is  evidenced  not  only  by  the  vast  accumulation  of 
earthy  mould  at  the  base  of  the  ruins,  and  by  the  pro- 
digious forest  growth  among  them,  but  by  the  fact  that 
when  the  great  Spanish  conqueror  passed  within  a  few 
leagues  of  this  spot,  nearly  three  and  a  half  centuries  ago, 
he  heard  not  a  whisper  of  any  such  city,  as  then  astir  with 
25*  • 


294:  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

an  active  population.  It  was,  no  doubt,  at  that  day,  as 
now,  a  heap  of  mouldering  ruins.  These  ruins,  and  others 
like  them  in  several  parts  of  Central  America,  have  been 
repeatedly  explored ;  and  the  result  is  a  historical  restora- 
tion, to  some  reliable  extent,  of  the  lost  race  which  pre- 
ceded that  of  Moutezuma's  empire.  That  it  was  a  kindred 
race,  is  evident  from  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
buildings. 

The  principal  structure  remaining  among  the  ruins  of 
Paleuque  stood  on  a  great  pyramidal  mound  of  nearly 
three  hundred  feet  square,  and  forty  feet  high,  faced  with 
stone.  Upon  this  foundation  rose  the  building,  covering 
a  space  of  about  two  hundred  feet  square.  The  walls,  of 
massive  stone  laid  in  mortar,  were  carefully  adjusted  to  the 
points  of  the  compass;  and  the  entire  front  was  stuccoed 
and  painted.  On  this  stucco  were  represented  human 
figures,  some  of  them  colossal,  in  various  and  significant 
attitudes,  with  hieroglyphics  near,  which,  no  doubt,  origin- 
ally explained  their  meaning.  These  figures,  in  facial 
outline,  resemble  the  Choctaw  and  Flathead  Indians  of  our 
own  country.  On  the  interior  walls  remain  similar  repre- 
sentations, of  which  some  are  very  striking;  and  gen- 
erally, though  disproportioned,  they  indicate  considerable 
conceptive  power  and  mechanical  skill  in  the  artist.  The 
extensive  floor  of  the  building  is  of  cement,  as  hard  as 
that  seen  in  the  remains  of  the  best  Roman  baths  and 
cisterns. 

In  this  region  there  exist  also  other  monuments  of  a 
most  remarkable  character :  vast  truncated  pyramids,  faced, 


THE    MONUMENTS   OP   LOST    RACES.  295 

generally,  with  stone ;  huge  sculptured,  monolithic  altars ; 
and  obelisks,  also  of  a  single  block,  from  five  to  seven  feet 
on  the  side,  and  twelve  to  thirty  high,  elaborately  carved, 
sometimes  into  colossal  human  figures,  and  sometimes  orna- 
mented with  hieroglyphics  and  strange  devices.  Among 
these  ornamental  carvings,  Mr.  Stephens  was  struck  by 
representations  of  the  elephant's  trunk ;  and  in  one  place 
he  discovered,  near  the  base  of  an  obelisk  idol,  a  colossal 
stone  head  of  a  crocodile.  Neither  of  these  creatures,  it 
will  be  remembered,  belonged,  at  the  age  of  the  discovery, 
to  the  American  continent. 

Around,  all  these  works,  that  so  strangely  tell  the  tale 
of  other  days  and  an  ancient  race,  the  deepest  silence  now 
reigns.  For  generations  giant  forests  have  shed  over  them 
the  gloom  of  a  shaded  solitude;  and,  until  a  recent  day, 
man  had  lost  the  knowledge  of  their  existence. 

But  although  the  voices  which  once  echoed  among  them 
be  hushed,  and  the  hands  which  wrought  them  have  long 
since  crumbled  into  dust,  there  are  witnesses  yet  surviving 
to  explain  the  meaning  of  these  works.  The  very  struc- 
tures looked  upon  by  Cortes  and  his  veterans,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Mexican  capital,  were  of  the  same  type.  The 
pyramidal  mound,  the  stuccoed  and  painted  palace,  the 
sculptured  idol  and  altar,  and  the  hieroglyphic  tablet,  were 
all  there.  The  difference  in  detail  indicates,  indeed,  another 
hand,  and  a  succeeding  age.  But  the  correspondence 
proves  kindred  ideas  and  a  common  descent. 

There  is,  however,  stronger  evidence  "even  than  this. 
On  the  way  between  Yera  Cruz  and  the  capital,  not  far 


Of  THT5 


296  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

from  the  modern  City  of  Puebla,  the  traveler  yet  sees  some 
venerable  piles,  which  mark  the  spot  where  stood  the  mighty 
City  of  Cholula,  the  most  imposing,  perhaps,  of  the  several 
great  capitals  on  the  Mexican  plateau,  which  were  crowded 
with  inhabitants  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest.  This 
populous  and  comparatively  refined  city,  said  by  Cortes  to 
have  contained  twenty  thousand  houses  within  its  walls, 
and  as  many  more  in  its  environs,  was  admitted  by  the 
Aztecs  to  be  of  high  antiquity,  and  to  have  been  founded 
by  the  race  which  possessed  the  land  before  themselves. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  town  excelled  in  such  arts  as  work- 
ing in  metals,  manufacturing  cotton  and  agave  cloths,  and 
producing  a  delicate  kind  of  pottery,  said  to  have  rivaled 
in  beauty  that  of  Florence.  But  this  capital,  so  con- 
spicuous for  its  refinement,  and  its  great  antiquity,  was 
even  more  venerable  as  the  centre  of  the  old  religion  of  the 
country.  There  stood  the  vast  temple  dtdicated  to  the 
"God  of  the  air,"  (the  reader  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
turn  to  Ephesians,  ii.  2,  will  note  a  singular  significance 
in  this  designation,)  with  all  its  colossal  paraphernalia  of 
symbolic  sculpture  and  costly  ornament  —  the  mightiest 
mass,  by  far,  ever  erected  by  human  hands  on  this  con- 
tinent, and  scarcely  surpassed  in  dimensions  by  any  other 
work  of  man  upon  the  globe.  Of  this  structure,  the  base 
was  an  enormous  truncated  pyramid,  whose  sides  faced 
the  cardinal  points.  These  sides  were  much  over  a  thou- 
sand feet  in  length,  and  the  height  of  the  mound  was 
nearly  two  hundred  feet.  On  the  summit  rose  the  walls 
of  the  sumptuous  temple,  to  whose  shrine,  venerated 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  297 

throughout  the  land,  pilgrims  continually  resorted  from 
the  farthest  recesses  of  the  valley.  The  undying  fires 
which  here  shed  a  dreadful  glare  upon  hecatombs  of  human 
victims,  in  the  time  of  the  conquest,  and  flung  their  radiance 
far  and  wide  over  the  devoted  region,  may  light  us  to  the 
reading  of  those  other  monuments  of  the  primitive  race  at 
Palenque,  Uxmal,  and  Copan.  And  thus  read,  those 
ruins  reveal  much  that  may  be  relied  upon  of  that  ancient 
people.  Room,  indeed,  is  scarcely  left  for  doubt,  that 
they  belonged  to  the  Toltec  family,  the  almost  historical 
race,  which  is  known  to  have  preceded  the  Aztecs,  in 
taking  possession  of  the  Mexican  plateau.  An  old 
Mexican  annalist,  relied  upon  by  Prescott,  relates,  from 
interpretations  derived  from  their  monuments,  and  from 
tradition,  that  this  early  race,  the  Toltecs,  had  come  from 
the  north  into  the  pleasant  valley  before  the  seventh 
century  of  our  era;  that  after  several  centuries  they  were 
pressed  upon  by  successive  warlike  tribes,  which  came,  as 
they  had  done,  from  the  northwest;  that  under  this  pressure 
they  left  many  of  their  ancient  homes,  and  migrated  to 
other  lands,  yielding  the  country  to  the  occupancy  of  the 
invaders;  and  that  the  Aztecs,  as  the  last  and  most  power- 
ful of  these,  succeeded,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  in  establishing  that  extensive  empire  which  the 
Spaniards,  within  the  next  hundred  years,  found  so  re- 
markably consolidated  under  the  sceptre  of  Montezuma. 

In  the  southern  section  of  the  continent  exist  memorials 
of  the  past,  not  less  striking  than  are  those  at  which  we 
have  glanced.  They  are  also,  in  some  respects,  like  them. 


293  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR    TILS    BIBLE. 

And  the  correspondence  is  sufficient  to  indicate  a  common 
element  in  their  origin :  yet  they  so  differ  as  to  suggest  a 
separation  of  centuries  in  their  development,  even  under 
the  moulding  influence  of  that  dominant  family  which  gave 
character  to  the  great  works  of  the  Peruvian  empire.  The 
traveler,  especially  in  the  central  portions  of  the  southern 
table-land,  still  meets  with  ancient  monuments,  remains  of 
temples,  palaces,  fortresses,  terraced  mountains,  great  mili- 
tary roads,  and  other  public  works,  which,  how  unscientific 
soever  may  be  their  execution,  astonish  him  by  their  num- 
ber, the  massive  character  of  their  materials,  and  the  gran- 
deur of  the  design.  Upon  most  of  these,  however,  it  is 
not  necessary  for  us  here  to  dwell,  because  the  Inca  dynasty, 
under  whose  presiding  genius  they  were  mainly  contrived, 
and  the  obedient  multitudes  by  whom  they  were  constructed, 
were  yet  in  possession  of  the  country  when  Pizarro  hurled 
from  their  lofty  seat  the  children  of  the  sun,  and  crushed  the 
credulous  race  over  whom  they  ruled.  To  only  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  impressive  of  these  relics  would  we  direct 
attention.  It  is  found  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Titicaca,  was 
a  venerable  pile  in  the  time  of  the  conquest,  and  is  thus 
described  by  M.  D'Orbigny,  (L'Homme  Americain,  t.  i.  p. 
323  :)  "These  monuments  consist  of  a  mound  raised  nearly 
a  hundred  feet,  surrounded  with  pillars ;  of  temples  from 
six  to  twelve  hundred  feet  in  length,  opening  precisely 
toward  the  east,  and  adorned  with  colossal  angular  col- 
umns ;  of  porticoes  of  a  single  stone,  covered  with  reliefs  of 
skillful  execution,  though  of  rude  design,  displaying  sym- 
bolical representations  of  the  sun,  and  the  condor,  his  mes- 


THE    MONUMENTS   OP    LOST    RACES.  299 

senger;  of  basaltic  statues  loaded  with  bas-reliefs,  in  which 
the  design  of  the  carved  heads  is  half  Egyptian ;  and  lastly, 
of  the  interior  of  a  palace  formed  of  enormous  blocks  of 
rock  completely  hewn,  whose  dimensions  are  often  twenty- 
one  feet  in  length,  twelve  in  breadth,  and  six  in  thickness. 
In  the  temples  and  palaces  the  portals  are  not  inclined,  as 
among  those  of  the  Incas,  but  perpendicular;  and  their 
vast  dimensions,  and  the  imposing  masses  of  which  they 
are  composed,  surpass  in  beauty  and  grandeur  all  that  were 
afterwards  built  by  the  sovereigns  of  Cuzco." 

Ill  connection  with  vast  remains  of  this  kind  there  are 
two  significant  facts  to  be  borne  in  mind,  namely,  that  sun- 
worship  had  here  absorbed  nearly  all  other  elements  of 
religion,  and  that  the  mummied  dead  were  generally  buried 
in  a  sitting  posture,  whether  in  rock-hewn  sepulchral 
chambers  or  in  galleries  beneath  vast  mounds  of  earth  or 
stone. 

Turning  northward  from  the  Mexican  valley,  we  trace 
the  monumental  history  of  the  old  races  throughout  the 
wide  extent  of  the  United  States,  amid  elements  again 
changed  in  character,  according  to  the  different  features  of 
the  country,  yet  still  exhibiting  significant  correspondences 
with  those  of  the  centre  and  south.  Evidences  of  ancient 
culture  considerably  beyond  anything  found  among  the 
forest  tribes  by  the  early  European  settlers  present  them- 
selves to  notice  all  along  the  Mississippi  valley.  Among 
these  are  very  imposing  remains  of  large  defensive,  indus- 
trial, sacred,  and  sepulchral  works.  Of  such  structures, 
their  most  competent  early  observer,  Virginia's  celebrated 


300  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

commander  against  the  western  Indians  in  revolutionary 
times,  General  George  Rogers  Clarke,  thus  speaks  :  "  These 
works  are  numerous  in  every  part  of  the  Western  country, 
.  .  .  but  are  larger  as  you  descend  toward  the  Mississippi. 
Many  of  them  wouM  require  fifty  thousand  men  for  their 
occupancy.  Some  of  them  have  been  fortified  towns,  others 
encampments  entrenched ;  but  the  greater  part  have  been 
common  garrison  forts,  many  of  them  with  towers  of  con- 
siderable height,  to  defend  the  walls  with  arrows  and  other 
missile  weapons.  .  .  .  That  the  people  had  commerce  is  evi- 
dent, because  the  mouth  of  every  river  has  been  fortified. 
.  .  .  That  they  were  a  numerous  people  is  also  evident,  not 
only  from  their  many  works,  but  also  from  their  habitations 
being  raised  in  low  lands.  .  .  .  Covered  ways  to  water  are 
common,  and  causeways  across  marshes  frequent.  The 
Indians,"  adds  General  Clarke,  "give  an  account  of  these 
works.  They  say  they  were  the  work  of  their  forefathers, 
that  they  were  as  numerous  as  the  trees  in  the  wilderness, 
that  they  affronted  the  Great  Spirit,  and  he  made  them  kill 
one  another." 

These  statements  are  much  more  than  sustained  by 
recent  explorations.  Especially  do  the  carefully  pre- 
pared descriptions  of  such  ancient  works  by  Mr.  Squier 
and  others,  accompanied  by  splendid  illustrations,  in  the 
first  and  some  subsequent  volumes  of  the  "Smithsonian 
Contributions  to  Knowledge,"  exhibit  the  astonishing  sig- 
nificance of  structures  like  these,  so  long  ago  noticed. 

"They  consist,"  say  these  authorities,  (vol.  i.  pp.  3-7,  etc.) 
"of  constructions  of  earth  or  stone,  in  immense  numbers. 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST    RACES.  301 

and  often  of  prodigious  dimensions.  The  lines  of  embank- 
ment are  from  five  to  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  inclose 
areas  of  from  two  to  four  and  even  six  hundred  acres." 

Some  industrial  .remains  of  these  ancient  races  corre- 
spond with  their  great  military  works.  In  the  copper  dis- 
trict of  the  Northwest,  they  have  left  traces  of  mining 
operations  on  a  large  scale.  (Schoolcraft,  i.  96.)  Many 
of  their  excavations,  following  the  course  of  the  veins  with 
singular  accuracy  for  long  distances,  are  from  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  wide,  and  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  deep.  In 
the  bottom  of  one  of  these  cuts,  covered  by  fifteen  feet  of 
accumulated  earthy  rubbish,  in  which  were  growing  trees 
of  probably  five  hundred  years  of  age,  was  found,  not  long 
since,  an  enormous  mass  of  pure  copper,  of  about  six  tons 
weight,  with  every  particle  of  rock  hammered  clean  from 
it,  supported  by  underlying  timbers,  and  surrounded  by 
traces  of  the  use  of  fire.  Near  it  were  picked  up  several 
implements  of  copper,  showing  that  those  old  miners  pos- 
sessed the  arts  of  welding  and  hardening  copper — arts  now 
unknown.  Still,  they  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  iron, 
and  worked  with  comparative  awkwardness.  Either  they 
failed  at  last  to  break  or  lift  out  this  immense  boulder,  or 
the  exigencies  of  war,  of  pestilence,  or  of  famine,  com- 
pelled them  to  desist  from  their  labors. 

That  the  numerous  population,  implied  by  these  works, 
and  those  before  mentioned,  must  have  been  maintained,  to 
a  great  extent,  by  agriculture,  would  of  course  be  at  once 
inferred.  But  the  fact  is  singularly  evidenced  by  a  very 
peculiar  kind  of  industrial  remains,  in  some  of  the  most 

26 


302  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS    FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

fertile  regions  of  the  West.  There  are  curious  appear- 
ances, known  as  antique  garden-beds,  (ibid.,  54,)  or  traces 
of  ancient  field-husbandry,  which  seem  to  denote  a  remote 
period  of  fixed  agriculture.  Some  of  these  fields  are  said 
to  embrace  hundreds  of  acres,  and  the  area  in  which  they 
occur  covers  more  than  hundreds  of  square  miles.  Trees 
of  the  largest  kind  are  standing  amid  certain  of  these  old 
trenched  grounds,  but  in  general  the  preservation  of  their 
remarkable  outlines  is  due  to  the  prairie  grass,  which  forms 
a  compact  sod  over  them  as  firm  and  lasting  as  if  they 
were  impressed  in  rock. 

In  connection  with  these  traces  of  the  ancient  popula- 
tion, something  also  remains  of  their  system  of  worship 
and  modes  of  sepulture.  Of  architecture  in  wood  or  stone 
they  seem  to  have  known,  indeed,  but  little.  At  least  they 
have  left  no  such  tombs  or  temples  as  those  of  the  old  Tol- 
tecs.  Still,  they  did  construct,  both  for  worship  and  for 
burial,  large  mounds  of  earth,  which  are  now  covered  by 
the  sod  or  the  forest,  and  which,  if  not  mutilated  by  axe 
and  spade,  may  yet  stand  as  long  as  the  old  fortress  of 
Cuzco  or  the  pyramids  of  Cholula. 

"These  mounds,"  say  the  Smithsonian  Contributions, 
(vol.  i.  pp.  5-140,)  "are  of  all  dimensions,  from  those  of  a 
few  feet  in  height  and  a  few  yards  in  diameter  to  those 
which,  like  the  celebrated  structure  at  the  mouth  of  Grave 
Creek,  in  Virginia,  rise  to  the  height  of  seventy  feet,  and 
measure  at  the  base  one  thousand  feet  in  circumference. 
Indeed,  the  truncated  pyramid  at  Chahokia,  Illinois,  has 
an  altitude  of  ninety  feet,  and  is  at  the  base  upwards  of 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  303 

two  thousand  feet  in  circumference.  ...  To  say  that  they 
are  innumerable,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  would 
be  no  exaggeration.  They  may  be  literally  numbered  by 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands.  They  prevail  from  the 
great  lakes  of  the  north,  through  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  seats  of  semi-civilization  in  Mexico,  Central 
America,  and  Peru,  even  to  the  waters  of  the  La  Plata  on 
the  south.  We  find  them  also  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  on  the 
Colorado  of  California.  In  form  they  are  simple  cones  or 
pyramids,  frequently  truncated,  and  sometimes  terraced.  .  . 
.  .  They  are  the  principal  depositories  of  ancient  art ;  they 
cover  the  bones  of  the  distinguished  dead  of  remote  ages; 
and  hide  from  the  profane  gaze  of  invading  races  the  altars 
of  the  ancient  people."  The  traces  of  fire  always  accompa- 
nying these  latter  reveal  a  predominant  element  in  the  reli- 
gion of  the  tribes  that  constructed  them,  while  the  examined 
tombs  exhibit  tokens  scarcely  less  suggestive.  "Burial  by 
fire,"  (vol.  i.  p.  161,)  "seems  to  have  been  frequently  prac- 
ticed by  the  mound  builders;  urn  burial  also  appears  to 
have  prevailed;  .  .  .  and,  as  elsewhere,  in  the  bottom  of 
the  great  Grave  Creek  Mound,  ten  skeletons  were  discov- 
ered, all  in  a  sitting  posture." 

Fire  burial  was,  we  know,  common  among  the  Mexicans. 
Clavigero  states,  (vol.  ii.  p.  108,)  that  "many  ordered  their 
ashes  to  be  buried  near  some  temple  or  altar."  While  in 
cases  of  inhumation  the  sitting  posture  was  generally 
adopted. 

Practices  very  similar  to  these  have  notoriously  prevailed 


304  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

among  the  North  American  Indians,  from  the  earliest  date 
of  European  acquaintance  with  them.  Among  some  tribes, 
however,  other  customs  respecting  the  dead  exist  well-nigh 
as  remarkable ;  for  instance,  the  gathering  of  such  remains 
as  have  been  exposed  on  scaffolds  and  in  the  forks  of  trees, 
and  depositing  them,  with  various  ceremonies,  in  the  huts 
of  relatives,  etc.,  (Smithsonian  Contributions,  vol.  i.  p. 
172;)  the  provisions,  etc.,  deposited  with  the  inhumed,  and 
the  periodical  offering  of  libations  and  viands  at  the  graves 
of  ancestors,  "a  duty,"  says  Dr.  Schoolcraft,  (i.  38,)  "ob- 
ligatory on  every  Indian  in  good  standing  with  his  tribe." 
That  the  precursors  of  the  modern  red  men  had,  more- 
over, methods  of  recording  events,  not  indeed  in  alphabeti- 
cal or  even  hieroglyphical  writing,  but  by  means  of  rude 
symbolical  pictures,  is  certain.  The  fact  that  all  the  more 
intelligent  Indians  now  existing  use  such  pictography, 
would  place  this  beyond  dispute.  But  it  is  exhibited  in 
various  specimens,  which  successive  explorers  have  brought 
to  light.  The  best  known  of  these  will  suffice  as  an  illus- 
tration. On  a  rock  near  the  mouth  of  the  Taunton  River, 
which  flows  between  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island, 
there  is  a  very  old  inscription,  part  of  which  seems  to  be 
of  this  symbolic  Indian  character,  while  another  part  is 
Scandinavian.  The  inscription  having  been  copied  by 
Schoolcraft,  (i.  pp.  114-118,)  and  referred  to  the  scholars 
of  Copenhagen,  one  of  them,  Mr.  Magnusen,  read  from  it 
a  brief  record  of  the  landing  and  defeat  of  a  body  of  North- 
men at  this  point  in  1001.  From  portions  of  it,  however, 
a  venerable  Indian  of  high  intelligence,  and  well  versed  in 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  305 

the  pictographic  systems  of  his  race,  rendered  for  the 
archaeologist  a  consistent  statement  of  some  other  events ; 
the  two  interpretations  not  interfering  the  one  with  the 
other. 

The  monuments  of  old  races  in  Central,  Southern,  and 
Northern  America,  at  which  we  have  thus  glanced,  seem  un 
mistakably  to  indicate  an  original  relationship  in  the  ances- 
tral stocks  of  the  several  families.  The  diversities  are  such 
as  naturally  to  result  from  extensive  geological,  climatic, 
and  other  like  influences,  while  the  correspondences  cannot, 
without  violence  to  reason,  be  attributed  to  chance.  The 
grade  of  civilization,  the  mound  and  temple  system,  the 
fire  and  sun  worship,  the  tumulus  over  the  dead,  and  pecu- 
liar processes  of  sepulture,  etc.,  and  the  pictorial  methods 
of  record,  belong  to  them  all. 

Besides  these  there  are  two  other  classes  of  remains  re- 
markably agreeing  in  the  whole  region — the  red  man  him- 
self, and  his  system  of  speech.  In  all  the  old  representa- 
tions, as  now  however  variant,  however  affected  by  soft  airs 
and  sunny  slopes  that  invite  to  stationary  life,  or  by  the 
vast  plains  and  mighty  forests  which  beckon  to  hunter- 
wanderings,  the  Indian  is  the  Indian  still ;  and  whether  he 
speak  amid  the  rumbling  of  southern  volcanoes,  or  among 
the  breezes  that  ripple  northern  lakes,  on  the  summit 
of  the  Andes,  or  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  one  hered- 
itary plan  of  utterance  directs  his  tongue.  The  late  dis- 
tinguished Mr.  Gallatin,  who,  during  many  years,  devoted 
the  energies  of  his  fine  intellect  to  this  among  other  sub- 
jects, says,  in  perhaps  the  last  public  document  ever  penned 

26* 


306  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

by  his  hand,  (see  ante  "Human  Family,"  p.  83:)  "The 
grammar  or  structure  of  the  several  languages  of  the  abo- 
rigines of  America,  seems  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  general 
unity  of  the  race." 

Passing  now  from  our  western  coast  to  the  islands  of  the 
great  Pacific,  we  look  a  moment  at  some  of  their  ancient 
monuments.  Like  those  of  our  own  country,  they  consist 
of  old  defensive  works,  temple  mounds,  and  memorials  of 
the  dead. 

Of  the  old  fortresses  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  "several 
are,"  says  Ellis,  (Polynesian  Researches,  vol.  iv.  p.  81,  etc.) 
"  very  extensive.  That  at  Maeva  in  Huahiue,  near  Mouna 
Tabui,  is  probably  the  most  imposing.  It  is  a  square  of 
about  half  a  mile  on  each  side,  and  incloses  many  acres  of 
ground  well  stocked  with  bread-fruit,  containing  several 
springs,  and  having  within  its  precincts  the  principal  tem- 
ple of  their  tutelar  deity.  The  walls  are  of  solid  stone- 
work, twelve  feet  in  height.  On  the  top  of  the  walls, 
which  are  even  and  well  paved,  and  in  some  places  ten  or 
twelve  feet  thick,  the  warriors  kept  watch  and  slept." 

One  of  the  sacred  structures  is  thus  described:  "It  was 
an  irregular  parallelogram,  over  seven  hundred  feet  long  and 
four  hundred  broad.  The  walls  were  twelve  feet  high  and 
fifteen  thick.  Holes  were  still  visible  in  the  top  of  the  wall 
where  large  images  had  formerly  stood.  Within  this  inclo- 
sure  were  three  large  heiaus,  (temple^mounds,)  two  of  which 
were  considerably  demolished,  while  the  other  was  nearly 
entire.  It  was  a  compact  pile  of  stones  laid  up  in  a  solid 
mass,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  by  sixty-five,  and 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  30T 

ten  feet  high.  Many  fragments  of  rock,  or  pieces  of  lava, 
of  two  or  more  tons  each,  were  seen  in  several  parts  of  the 
wall,  raised  at  least  six  feet  from  the  ground.  The  erec- 
tion of  such  a  place,  under  the  circumstances,  and  with  the 
means  employed,  must  have  been  a  Herculean  task,  and 
could  not  have  been  completed  but  by  the  aid  of  many 
hands.  We  could  not  learn  how  long  it  had  been  stand- 
ing." 

"  Their  rites  of  sepulture,"  adds  Mr.  Ellis,  (vol.  iv.  p.  262,) 
"corresponded  exactly  with  those  practiced  by  some  of  the 
tribes  on  the  opposite  coast  of  North  America.  Sometimes 
piles  of  stone  were  erected  over  the  body ;  sometimes  burn- 
ing was  practiced,  and  parts  of  the  skeleton  were  deposited 
in  temples  for  adoration,  or  distributed  among  relatives, 
who  guarded  them  with  religious  care;  and  sometimes 
graves  were  made,  and  the  bodies  deposited,  generally  in  a 
sitting  posture,  in  their  houses." 

The  Society  Islands  are  marked  by  remains  in  most  re- 
spects similar.  Of  the  pyramidal  temples  it  is  said,  (ibid., 
i.  p.  262:)  "These  piles  are  often  immense.  That  which 
formed  one  side  of  the  square  of  the  large  temple  of  Ate- 
huru,  was  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet  long  and  ninety- 
four  wide  at  the  base,  and  fifty  feet  high ;  being  at  the 
summit  one  hundred  and  eighty  long  and  six  wide.  The 
outer  stones  of  the  pyramid,  composed  of  coral  and  basalt, 
were  laid  with  great  care,  and  hewn  or  squared  with  im- 
mense labor." 

Here  prevailed  (ibid.)  an  imperfect  process  of  embalm- 
ing, and  here,  too,  bodies  when  interred  were  not  laid  out, 
but  placed  in  a  sitting  posture. 


308  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS    FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

Proceeding  onward  toward  the  eastern  border  of  the  Old 
World,  we  fiud  other  objects  of  interest.  In  the  Island  of 
Java  (Crawford's  Indian  Archipelago,  vol.  ii.  p.  196,)  are 
remains  of  many  ancient  temples.  "  One  group,  known  as 
the  ruins  of  Prambanai,  and  spoken  of  by  the  natives  as  'the 
thousand  temples,'  occupies  a  rectangular  area  six  hundred 
feet  long  and  five  hundred  and  fifty  broad,  and  consists  of 
four  rows  of  small  pyramidal  structures,  inclosing  a  court, 
in  which  is  placed  a  large  pyramidal  edifice." 

Farther  north,  the  Lew  Chew  Islands,  as  recently  ex- 
plored by  officers  of  our  government,  offer  one  or  two 
objects  that  claim  our  attention.  The  present  inhabitants, 
like  those  of  Japan,  belong  mainly,  it  appears,  to  the  Chi- 
nese variety  of  the  Mongolian  stock.  And  yet  the  ex- 
plorers met  with  several  remarkable  traces  of  an  older  race 
connected  with  Hindostan :  neglected  rock-tombs  like  those 
of  Syria  and  Egypt,  and  emblems  most  significant  of  Brah- 
min mythology.  (See  U.  S.  Expdn.  to  Japan,  Com.  Perry, 
p.  173.)  They  also  noticed  instances  of  the  peculiar  Egyp- 
tian arch,  and  massive  remains  in  that  remarkable  style  of 
architecture  known  in  Europe  as  the  old  Cyclopean.  The  cus- 
tom of  burying  the  dead  in  a  sitting  posture  was  here  also 
observed.  "Great  reverence,"  says  the  narrative,  (p.  319,) 
"  is  paid  to  the  dead  in  Lew  Chew.  They  are  put  in  coffins 
in  a  sitting  posture,  and  are  interred  in  well-built  stone 
vaults,  or  tombs  constructed  in  the  sides  of  the  hills."  And 
two  other  circumstances  are  mentioned,  which  will  be  seen 
to  connect  this  singular  practice  with  some  of  the  most 
characteristic  features  of  the  Chinese  social  system.  "Peri- 
odical visits  are  paid  by  surviving  friends  and  relatives  to 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  309 

the  burial  places,  where  they  deposit  offerings  upon  the 
tombs.  And  on  the  burial  of  the  rich  dead,  articles  of 
food  are  offered,  and,  after  being  allowed  to  remain  for  a 
short  time,  are  distributed  among  the  poor." 

The  religious  edifices  and  pyramidal  shrines  of  the 
Japanese  are  described  by  Koempfer  as  "  sweetly  seated" 
in  the  midst  of  large  square  inclosures,  approached  by 
spacious  avenues,  and  embracing  within  their  walls  springs, 
groves,  and  pleasant  walks.  "The  empire,"  remarks  this 
author,  (Koampfer's  Japan,  vol.  ii.  p.  416,)  "is  full  of  these 
temples." 

Of  this  ancient,  and  in  many  respects  interesting  peo- 
ple, the  antiquities,  customs,  and  general  monumental 
history,  including  their  physical  peculiarities  and  the  rela- 
tions of  their  language,  more  abundant  information  than 
has  heretofore  been  accessible  will,  it  may  be  hoped,  soon 
be  obtained  through  the  free  intercourse  towards  which  an 
opening  has  been  made  in  their  present  embassy  to  the 
"United  States.  As  a  specimen  of  what  may  be  thus 
expected,  the  reader  is  requested  to  turn  to  the  interesting 
note  of  Lieut.  J.  M.  Brooke,  U.S.N.,  which  throws  more 
than  a  little  light  on  several  questions  involved  in  our 
discussions. 

Entering,  however,  the  Asiatic  continent,  and  looking 
over  the  crowded  Empire  of  China,  we  find  no  memorials 
indeed  of  "lost  races,"  but  numerous  tokens  of  buried  gen- 
erations whose  social  development  must  have  been  of  high 
antiquity;  so  that  some  of  the  phenomena  here  properly 
fall  within  the  range  of  our  subject. 

The  great  defensive  wall  bounding  the  empire  on  its 


310  SCIENCE    A    WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

northern  frontier  presents  itself  among  these  as  the  most 
conspicuous — if  not,  as  has  been  said,  (Williams's  "  Middle 
Kingdom,"  vol.  i.  p.  25.) — "the  only  artificial  structure 
which  would  arrest  attention  on  a  hasty  survey  of  the 
globe."  It  is  indeed  a  work  of  herculean  labor.  A  mound 
of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high,  with  about  an  equal 
average  thickness,  over  twelve  hundred  miles  long,  gen- 
erally faced  with  masonry  or  covered  with  tiles,  defended 
by  massive  towers  at  suitable  intervals,  and  dating  back 
more  than  two  thousand  years,  certainly  testifies,  beyond 
mistake,  to  the  vastness  of  population  and  grade  of  civili- 
zation here  existing  centuries  before  our  era. 

The  other  prodigious  national  achievement  in  China,  its 
immense  canal,  is  of  too  recent  an  age  to  fall  strictly  within 
our  purview,  venerable  as  are  its  six  hundred  years  in  com- 
parison with  the  age  of  similar  commercial  channels  among 
Western  nations.  Still,  it  is  connected  at  least  in  idea 
with  the  northern  rampart,  and  with  the  old  highways  of 
the  country;  since  it  is  related  of  the  renowned  ancient 
emperor  who  built  the  wall,  (Middle  Kingdom,  i.  212,)  that 
"he  made  progresses  through  his  dominions  with  great 
splendor,  built  public  edifices,  and  opened  roads  and  canals 
to  facilitate  intercourse  and  trade  between  the  provinces." 

Few  if  any  remains  of  large  substantial  buildings  have 
been  here,  from  whatever  causes,  left  by  the  old  races;  but 
there  are  in  the  aspect  of  the  country  features  that  ex- 
hibit not  less  surely  the  peculiarities  of  ancient  custom. 
"A  lofty  solitary  pagoda,  an  extensive  temple  shaded  by- 
trees  in  the  opening  of  a  vale  or  on  a  hill-side,  etc.,  are 
some  of  the  peculiar  lineaments  of  Chinese  scenery." 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  311 

(i-35.)  In  some  places  also,  relics  of  the  past  do  appear, 
which  seem  to  link  this  strange  people  with  other  hoary 
nations.  For  instance,  at  Nanking,  once  the  most  cele- 
brated city  of  the  empire,  (i.  82,)  "there  still  exist  some 
remarkable  monuments,  in  the  form  of  sepulchral  statues. 
These  statues  are  near  an  ancient  cemetery,  called  the 
'Tombs  of  the  Kings,'  and  formed  an  avenue  leading  up  to 
the  sepulchres ;  they  consisted  of  gigantic  figures  like  war- 
riors, cased  in  a  kind  of  armor,  standing  on  either  side  of 
the  road.  .  ,  .  Situated  at  some  distance  from  the  statues 
are  a  number  of  rude  colossal  figures  of  horses,  elephants, 
and  other  animals,  placed  without  any  distinct  arrange- 
ment, whose  purpose  may  have  been  to  ornament  particular 
tombs,  but  which  have  been  scattered  by  other  hands. 
There  is  a  peculiar  antique  Egyptian  cast  about  them  all." 
These  remains  point  to  some  of  the  most  universally 
distinguishing  traits  of  this  aged  people ;  the  ideas  con- 
cerning the  dead,  which  they  strangely  mingle  with  a 
prevalent  atheism,  and  the  worship  they  address  to  their 
ancestors.  Sentiments  involved  in  this  form  of  idolatry 
supply,  undoubtedly,  the  actuating  principle  in  the  entire 
system  of  popular  superstition.  "The  doctrines  of  Con- 
fucius (ii.  258)  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  state  religion 
exhibit  the  speculative  intellectual  dogmas  of  the  Chinese ; 
the  tenets  of  Lautsz,  and  the  sorcery  and  invocation  of  his 
followers,  may  be  regarded  as  the  marvelous  and  subtle 
part  of  the  popula*  creed ;  while  the  idle,  shaven  priest  of 
Budha  impersonates  its  sensual  and  scheming  features;  but 
the  heart  of  the  nation  reposes  more  upon  the  rites  offered 
at  the  family  shrine  to  the  two  'living  divinities'  who  pre- 


312  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

side  in  the  hall  of  ancestors,  than  all  the  rest.  This  sort 
of  family  worship  has  been  popular  in  other  countries,  but 
in  no  part  of  the  world  has  it  reached  the  consequence  it 
has  received  in  Eastern  Asia."  And  great  as  are  the  follies 
and  vices  with  which  it  is  associated,  this  course  of  senti- 
ment seems  to  have  been  connected  also,  from  a  very  early 
age,  with  protective  if  not  virtuous  influences.  Certain  at 
least  is  it,  that  human  corruption,  fearful  as  it  is  here  as 
everywhere,  has  not  developed  two  of  the  most  fatal  forms 
of  wickedness  witnessed  in  so  many  other  regions — human 
sacrifices  and  the  actual  deification  of  vice.  Nor  is  the 
fact  less  than  impressive,  in  view  of  the  promise  attached 
to  the  fifth  commandment,  that  even  a  pagan  people,  in 
many  respects  vile  to  loathsomeness,  yet  marked  among 
the  nations  by  filial  reverence,  although  in  a  greatly  cor- 
rupted guise,  should,  beyond  all  comparison,  have  had  its 
"days  long  in  the  land"  originally  given  to  its  ancestors. 

Certain  facts  here  presented  in  the  processes  of  sepul- 
ture are  remarkable  in  connection  with  customs  elsewhere 
prevalent,  e.g.  "On  the  day  of  burial  (ii.  264-6)  a  sacri- 
fice of  cooked  provisions  is  laid  out  and  the  coffin  placed 
near  it.  ...  And  at  the  grave  everything  he  can  possibly 
want  in  the  land  of  shadows  is  burned  for  the  use  of  the 
deceased.  The  sacrifice  is  then  carried  back,  and  the 
family  feast  on  it,  or  distribute  it  among  the  poor."  The 
strange  sitting  posture  of  the  corpse,  associated  with 
arrangements  like  these  in  Lew  Chew^and  with  proceed- 
ings in  part  akin  to  them  among  the  aborigines  of  America, 
if  ever  here  prevalent,  has  not  been  perpetuated  as  a  custom. 
And  yet  it  is  to  some  extent  employed,  particularly  in  as- 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  313 

sociation  with  certain  phases  of  Budhism.  Of  the  Lamas 
in  Thibet  it  is  said  (i.  196)  that,  "as  soon  as  the  breath  has 
departed,  the  body  is  seated  in  the  attitude  in  which  Budha 
is  represented,  and  in  this  posture  of  contemplation  the 
corpse  is  burned." 

Two  other  memorials  of  the  old  generations  here  exist- 
ing we  briefly  mention,  viz.,  their  venerable  annals  and  the 
uncouth,  cumbrous  character  in  which  they  are  recorded. 
That  the  former  reach  back  reliably  to  2852  B.C.,  seems  to 
be  conceded  (ii.  199 ;)  while  the  latter  is  probably  the  oldest 
form  of  writing  now  in  common  use  on  earth.  It  is  known 
also  to  have  been  derived  in  part,  like  the  old  hieroglyphic 
and  other  systems,  from  rude  primitive  attempts  at  pictorial 
delineation.  "Most  of  the  original  forms  (i.  461)  are 
preserved  in  the  treatises  of  native  philologists,  where  the 
changes  they  have  gradually  undergone  are  shown." 

India,  the  sunny,  irrigated,  fertile  home  of  hoary  mul- 
titudes, venerable  culture,  and  wild  mythology,  as  of  ex- 
uberant nature  in  her  every  kingdom,  next  claims  attention. 
The  primitive  race  here,  if  not  "lost"  in  a  material  sense, 
has  undoubtedly,  since  the  Mussulman  conquest,  so  decayed, 
as  to  present  a  phenomenon  adapted  to  our  subject.  The 
old  tombs  and  temples  are  those  of  a  people  to  be  seen  in 
India  no  more.  Such  venerable  remains,  including  innu- 
merable gigantic  and  gorgeous  pagodas,  piled  upon  huge 
pyramids  whose  sides  face  the  cardinal  points,  the  traveler 
beholds  everywhere,  from  Cape  Comorin  to  the  Himalaya, 
and  from  the  Ganges  to  the  Indus.  Some  of  the  older  of 
these  monuments  are  among  the  most  noticeable  of  all  the 

27 


314  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR    THE   BIBLE. 

works  left  by  early  races.     One  or  two  of  them  will  suffice 
for  our  illustration. 

About  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Madras  are  extensive 
ruins,  known  as  "the  Seven  Pagodas,"  also  bearing  the 
name  "  Mahabalipoor. "  This  name  signifies  "the  city  of 
the  great  Bali,"  and  the  sculptures  refer  chiefly  to  the  ex- 
ploits of  that  deified  hero,  celebrated  in  the  Sanscrit  epic 
narratives  known  as  the  Mahabarat.  "  While  the  structures 
in  the  west  of  India  are  dedicated  almost  exclusively  to 
Seva,  the  destroyer,  this  is  sacred  to  Yishnu,  the  pre- 
server, of  whom  in  the  principal  temple  there  appears  a 
colossal  image,  sleeping  on  an  enormous  hooded  snake." 
(Murray's  excellent  Sketch  of  India,  in  Harper's  Family 
Library,  vol.  ii.  p.  225.)  "This  has  been  a  place  of  con- 
siderable importance"  (says  Bishop  Heber,  Journal,  vol. 
ii.  p.  213,)  "as  a  metropolis  of  the  ancient  kings  of  the 
race  of  Pandion ;  and  its  rocks,  which  in  themselves  are 
picturesque,  are  carved  into  porticoes,  temples,  bas-reliefs, 
etc.,  many  of  which  are  of  great  spirit  and  beauty.  The 
ruins  cover  a  great  space.  .  .  .  Here  the  surf,  according  to 
the  Hindoos,  rolls  and  roars  over  the  city  of  the  Great 
Bali !  One  very  old  temple  of  Yishnu  certainly  stands  im- 
mediately on  the  brink,  and  amid  the  dash  of  the  spray; 
and  there  are  really  some  remains  of  architecture,  among 
which  a  tall  pillar  is  conspicuous,  which  rise  from  amid 
the  waves,  and  give  proof  that  in  this  particular  spot,  as 
at  Madras,  the  sea  has  encroached  on  the  land,  though  in 
most  other  parts  of  the  Coromandel  coast  it  seems  rather 
receding  than  advancing.  There  are  also  many  rocks 
rising  through  the  white  breakers,  and  peculiar  desolation 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  315 

marks  the  surrounding  scenery."  Standing  amid  these 
old  monuments,  we  might  therefore  truthfully  apply,  in 
part  at  least,  Southey's  poetic  sketch : — 

"  Well  might  the  sad  beholder  ween  from  thence 
What  works  of  wonder  the  devouring  wave 
Had  swallowed  there,  when  monuments  so  brave 
Bore  record  of  their  old  magnificence. 
And  on  the  sandy  shore,  beside  the  verge 
Of  ocean,  here  and  there  a  rock-hewn  fane 
Resisted  in  its  strength  the  surf  and  surge 
That  on  their  deep  foundations  beat  in  vain. 
In  solitude  the  ancient  temples  stood, 
Once  resonant  with  instrument,  and  song, 
And  solemn  dance  of  festive  multitudes ; 
Now  as  the  weary  ages  pass  along, 
Hearing  no  voice,  save  of  the  ocean  flood, 
Which  roars  forever  on  the  restless  shores ; 
Or  visiting  their  solitary  caves, 
The  lonely  sound  of  winds  that  moan  around, 
Accordant  to  the  melancholy  waves." 

From  this  desolate  spot  we  proceed  to  another,  in  some 
respects  much  more  impressive. 

Penetrating  a  hundred  or  two  miles  into  the  interior, 
from  Bombay,  on  the  northwest  coast  of  the  Peninsula, 
toward  the  ancient  City  of  Deoghir  and  the  modern  Dow- 
latabad,  we  reach  the  granite  mountains  in  which  are 
excavated  the  wondrous  temples  of  Elora.  These  we  find 
among  the  most  stupendous  works  ever  executed  by  man. 
A  single  temple  of  one  hundred  feet  high,  sixty  wide,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  deep,  cut  out  of  solid  granite,  is  an 
achievement  of  industry  truly  astonishing.  But  when  we 
behold  similar  works  crowded  together  through  an  extent 


316  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

of  two  leagues,  the  mind  cannot  but  pause  in  amazement, 
to  realize  the  incredible  labor.  Here,  too,  are  thousands 
of  figures  of  ancient  Hindoo  sculpture,  whose  age,  like 
that  of  the  structures  they  adorn,  is  lost  in  the  darkness 
that  preceded  the  dawn  of  history.  The  chief  temple  still 
bears  the  name  of  a  more  than  mortal  architect,  whom 
Brahma  is  said  to  have  assisted.  Its  vault  is  supported 
by  several  rows  of  columns.  Numerous  colossal  monoliths, 
representing  Indian  gods,  stand  in  conspicuous  places; 
and  on  each  side  of  the  colonnades  are  hewn  sphinxes, 
quite  in  Egyptian  style.  In  view  of  which,  the  statement 
may  well  be  credited,  as  years  ago  published,  that  Indian 
soldiers  of  the  English  army  in  Egypt,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  exclaimed,  while  gazing  with  astonishment  at 
some  of  the  old  images  of  the  Xile  Yalley,  that  "Hindoos 
must  have  inhabited  Egypt."  "The  first  view,"  says  Mr. 
Erskine,  "of  this  desolate  religious  city  is  grand  and 
striking,  but  melancholy.  The  number  and  magnificence 
of  the  subterraneous  temples,  the  extent  and  loneliness  of 
the  same,  the  endless  diversity  of  sculpture  in  others,  the 
variety  of  curious  foliage,  of  minute  tracery,  highly-wrought 
pillars,  rich  mythological  designs,  sacred  shrines,  and  colos- 
sal statues,  astonish  and  distract  the  mind.  The  empire 
whose  pride  they  must  have  been  has  passed  away,  and 
left  not  a  legible  memorial  behind." 

Sepulture,  in  this  vast  peninsula,  was,  it  is  well  known, 
extensively  substituted  by  the  destructive  agency  of  fire. 
The  funeral  pile  is  one  of  the  characteristic  features  of 
Hindoo  custom.  And  yet  there  are  tokens  which  seem  to 


THE   MONUMENTS   OP   LOST   RACES,  317 

indicate  the  probable  origin,  here,  of  the  old  idea  of  a  sit- 
ting posture  for  the  dead.  Mention  has  been  already  made 
of  the  peculiar  attitude  in  which  the  Lamas  of  Thibet  were 
placed  as  soon  as  they  had  expired,  in  correspondence  with 
the  posture  of  repose  in  which  Budha  is  represented.  But 
the  latter,  it  appears,  is  only  a  secondary  exhibiton  of  older 
representations,  with  which  Budha  and  his  system  are  be- 
lieved to  be  connected.  In  the  first  volume  of  Sir  William 
Jones's  Asiatic  Researches  may  be  seen  delineated,  in  char- 
acteristic sketches,  the  elder  forms  of  Brahma,  Yishnu,  etc., 
in  this  very  strange  position,  supposed  adapted  to  contem- 
plation. And  it  is  far  from  improbable  that  from  these 
representations,  and  the  ideas  associated  with  them,  was 
derived  the  custom,  so  diffused,  as  we  have  seen,  of  placing 
human  bodies  in  the  tomb  sitting  instead  of  recumbent. 

Of  the  old  races  in  India,  there  are  monuments  more 
remarkable  than  all  the  wonders  of  the  chiseled  granite. 
Those  venerable  documents  of  theology,  of  law,  and  of 
poetry,  which  oriental  scholars  within  the  last  century 
brought  to  light.  Significant,  indeed,  are  these,  as  records 
of  ancient  thought,  as  memorials  of  the  early  intellectual 
struggles  of  a  heathen  race  singularly  ideal  and  imagina- 
tive. A  people,  of  whom,  as  they  were  in  the  days  of 
Alexander  and  before,  as  in  some  measure  they  have  been 
ever  since,  it  has  been  strikingly,  perhaps  justly  said : 
"  There  never  was  a  nation  believing  so  firmly  in  another 
world,  and  so  little  concerned  about  this ;  whose  past  was 
the  problem  of  creation,  whose  future  the  problem  of  exist- 
ence ;  while  the  present,  which  ought  to  be  the  solution  of 
27* 


318  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

both,  seeins  never  to  have  attracted  their  attention  or  called 
forth  their  energies." 

It  is,  however,  the  old  language  itself  which  constitutes 
the  most  instructive  memento  of  the  original  proprietors 
of  that  southern  clime;  a  language  now  proved  to  be  the 
elder  sister  of  Saxon,  Gothic,  Latin,  and  even  venerable 
Greek ;  so  that  widely  separated  in  essential  qualities  as 
their  tribes  have  become  under  diverse  influences,  in  the 
course  of  ages,  Europe  and  India  must  be  acknowledged 
to  have  originally  received  a  kindred  population ;  and  the 
inhabitants  of  these  distant  regions  are  justly  designated 
under  one  term,  as  the  great  Indo-European  family.  The 
testimony  of  the  learned  Professor  Max  Miiller,  on  this 
subject,  (ante,  "  Human  Family,")  will  be  recollected : 
"Many  words  still  live  in  India  and  England  that  have 
witnessed  the  first  separation  of  the  northern  and  southern 
Arians,  (as  originally  from  Aram,)  and  these  are  witnesses 
not  to  be  shaken  by  any  cross-examination.  The  terms  for 
God,  for  house,  for  father,  mother,  son,  daughter,  for  dog 
and  cow,  for  heart  and  tears,  for  axe  and  tree,  identical 
in  all  the  Indo-European  idioms,  are  like  the  watchwords 
of  soldiers.  We  challenge  the  seeming  stranger;  and 
whether  he  answer  with  the  lips  of  a  Greek,  a  German, 
or  an  Indian,  we  recognize  him  as  one  of  ourselves. 
Though  the  historian  may  shake  his  head,  though  the  phy- 
siologist may  doubt,  and  the  poet  scorn  the  idea,  all  must 
yield  before  the  facts  furnished  by  language.  There  was  a 
time  when  the  ancestors  of  the  Celts,  the  Germans,  the 
Sclavonians,  the  Greeks  and  Italians,  the  Persians  and 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  319 

Hindoos,  were  living  together  beneath  the  same  roof,  separate 
from  the  ancestors  of  the  Shemitic  and  Turanian  races." 

From  India  proceeding  to  the  interior  of  Asia,  we  need 
not  linger  long  about  the  material  remains  of  ancient  Per- 
sia. Altogether  to  overlook  this  region,  source  as  it  was 
of  mighty  influences  in  former  ages,  may  not,  indeed,  be 
allowable,  in  connection  with  our  subject.  Here  was  the 
centre  of  that  great  system  of  sun  and  fire  worship,  which 
seemed  to  permeate  the  ancient  world.  Here  were  cradled 
energies  which,  in  many  a  fierce  contest,  strove  for  empire 
with  Babylon,  with  Egypt,  and  with  Greece.  And  here, 
on  one  spot  at  least,  the  site  of  that  gorgeous  Persepolis, 
which  was  a  wonder  of  the  world  when  the  Macedonian 
conqueror  applied  the  torch  of  vengeance,  the  traveler  may 
still  behold,  in  singular  perfection  of  art,  and  bearing 
many  a  strange  old  inscription,  spite  of  all  the  ravages  of 
fire  and  of  time,  piles  of  masonry  scarcely  rivaled  on  the 
earth.  But  to  follow  even  Niebuhr  in  his  explorations  of 
these,  were  needless  for  our  purpose,  because  we  are  in  the 
main  acquainted  with  the  ancient  Persians  and  their  neigh- 
bors through  the  old  historical  races,  and  through  their 
own  sacred  books  now  given  to  Europe.  And  we  thus 
know  them  to  have  been  intermediate,  no  less  in  character 
than  in  position,  between  India  and  Babylon. 

If  from  Central  Asia  we  follow  the  known  track  of  early 
migration  toward  its  farthest  limits  in  Western  Europe, 
monuments  of  other  races,  which  antedate  history,  present 
themselves  again  to  view.  In  some  places  old  rock-inscrip- 
tions are  discernible,  in  a  rude  symbolic  pictography,  which 


320  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

tends  more  or  less  toward  some  development  of  a  hiero- 
glyphic system,  and  which,  by  its  peculiar  complexity  of 
outline,  in  certain  instances,  suggests  association  with  the 
originals  of  the  interminably  involved  Chinese  character. 
Altars,  too,  are  found,  on  which  the  early  wanderers  kin- 
dled their  sacrificial  fires.  Conspicuous  among  these  are 
the  old  Druid  temples  of  Stonehenge  in  England,  and  Car- 
nac  in  Brittany,  which,  with  others  that  remain,  both  in 
Britain  and  Gaul,  are  supposed,  from  their  significant  form, 
to  have  been  dedicated  to  the  united  worship  of  the  sun 
and  the  serpent. 

Xor  are  the  tumuli  less  remarkable  which,  in  Scythia, 
Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  the  British  Isles,  forgotten 
generations  heaped  upon  their  ancient  dead.  The  Scy- 
thians, whose  tumuli  are  scattered  in  great  abundance  over 
the  plains  of  Russia,  Southern  Siberia,  and  Tartary, 
"labored,"  says  Herodotus,  "to  raise  as  high  a  monument 
of  earth  for  their  dead  as  possible,"  (Melpomene,  Ixxi.) 
The  richness  of  these  Scythian  barrows  is  remarkable;  and, 
according  to  Strahlenberg,  (Siberia,  p.  366,)  the  local  gov- 
ernors of  Siberia  used  formerly  to  authorize  caravans  or  ex- 
peditions to  visit  and  ransack  the  tombs,  reserving  to  them- 
selves a  tenth  of  the  treasures.  In  the  second  volume  of 
the  British  ArchaBologia  is  an  account  of  the  opening  of 
one  of  the  larger  tumuli  in  Southern  Siberia.  Within  the 
mound  were  found  three  vaults,  constructed  of  unhewn 
stones,  and  of  rude  workmanship.  The  central  and  largest 
vault  contained  the  remains  of  the  individual  over  whom 
the  tumulus  had  been  erected,  also  his  sword,  spear,  bow, 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   EACES.  321 

quiver,  arrows,  etc.  In  the  vault  at  his  feet  were  the  skel- 
eton and  trappings  of  a  horse ;  in  that  at  his  head  was  a 
female  skeleton,  supposed  to  be  that  of  his  wife.  The 
male  skeleton  reclined  (something  like  the  sitting  posture) 
against  the  head  of  the  vault,  on  a  sheet  of  pure  gold,  ex- 
tending from  head  to  foot ;  and  another  of  like  dimensions 
was  spread  over  it.  It  had  been  wrapped  in  a  rich  mantle, 
studded  with  rubies  and  emeralds.  The  female  was  envel- 
oped in  like  manner:  a  golden  chain  of  many  links,  set 
with  rubies,  went  round  her  neck,  and  there  were  bracelets 
of  gold  upon  her  arms.  The  four  sheets  of  gold  weighed 
forty  pounds.  (Smithn.  Cont.,  ii.  art.  ix.  p.  lit.)  In  the 
Scandinavian  monumental  history,  the  earlier  and  later 
periods  have  been  designated  as  an  "age  of  fire,"  and  an 
"age  of  hills."  Odin  is  said  to  have  introduced  the  prac- 
tice of  burning,  and  also  that  of  the  wife  sacrificing  herself 
with  her  deceased  lord.  (Mallet's  Northn.  Antiq.,chap.  xii.) 
The  Germans,  says  Tacitus,  added  to  the  funeral  pile  the 
arms  of  the  deceased  and  his  horse.  And  Caesar  relates 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Belgium  and  Gaul  buried  or  burned 
with  the  dead  whatever  was  valued  by  them  in  their  life- 
time. The  burial  mounds  of  the  ancient  Britons  evince 
similar  practices.  They  are  very  numerous,  and  some  of 
them  of  great  size.  At  New  Grange,  in  the  County  of 
Meath,  Ireland,  there  is  a  structure  of  this  kind  seventy 
feet  high,  whose  base  covers  two  acres ;  and  within  it,  as 
left  from  old  times,  there  is  a  gallery  sixty  feet  long,  con- 
ducting to  a  great  cavernous  chamber,  containing  originally, 
as  do  the  mounds  generally,  many  interesting  relics,  ashes 
and  urns,  spears,  shields,  and  mirrors. 


322  SCIENCE   A  WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  the  central  monuments  of  the  Old 
World.  Races  that  were  more  than  ancient  ere  yet  Athens 
had  received  a  name,  have  left  along  the  Italian  shores,  as 
well  as  in  Greece,  imperishable  memorials  of  so  vast  a  char- 
acter as  to  have  given  rise  to  fables  of  Cyclopean  giants. 
If,  however,  the  ruins  of  Mycenae,  and  other  like  cities 
of  the  olden  time,  furnished  the  earliest  Greeks  of  history 
material  only  for  wild  conjecture,  well  may  they  have 
attributed  to  demigods  such  vastly  greater  achievements  as 
the  wonderful  tunnels  of  the  forgotten  race.  That  which  was 
made  for  the  purpose  of  draining  Lake  Copais,  in  Argolis,  is 
affirmed  (see  Niebuhr's  Lectures)  to  have  been  cut  to  the 
sea,  through  the  solid  rock  underlying  the  pro-Eubean  hills, 
a  distance  of  four  miles.  And  similar  works,  executed 
in  Italy,  to  reduce  the  swollen  Lake  of  Alba,  and  some 
others,  are  of  scarcely  inferior  dimensions  or  more  recent  age. 

The  Cyclopean  buildings,  left  by  these  pre-Hellenic  and 
ante-Roman  races,  seem  to  present  a  remarkable  connecting 
link  between  the  earlier  civilization  of  southeastern  Europe 
and  that  of  the  Euphrates  and  Nile  valleys.  "  They  have," 
says  Niebuhr,  "a  great  resemblance  in  style  to  those  of 
ancient  Egypt,  especially  to  the  peculiar  colossal  nature  of 
Egyptian  architecture.  We,  moreover,  find  in  them  pointed 
arches  instead  of  vaults,  just  as  in  Egyptian  buildings.  .  .  . 
The  sepultures  in  what  is  called  the  lion-gate  at  Mycenae, 
which  is  noticed  even  by  Pausanias,  (in  Hadrian's  time,) 
have  quite  a  foreign  character.  Notwithstanding  all  the 
ravages  of  barbarians,  that  gate  is  still  standing  undis- 
turbed, and  its  ruins  are  perhaps  now  as  completely  pre- 


THE   MONUMENTS   OP   LOST   RACES.  823 

served  as  they  were  at  the  time  when  Pausanias  described 
them." 

But  if  Italy  and  Greece  received  thus  from  Egypt  a 
strange  influence,  at  so  early  a  day,  to  mould  their  archi- 
tecture, vastly  more  important  toward  their  own  and  the 
world's  elevation  was  the  influence  they  received,  be  it  at  a 
later  day,  from  Asia,  in  the  gift  of  letters — a  gift  without 
which  history  had  remained  lost  in  fable,  and  religion  must 
have  continued  debased  by  superstition. 

We  linger,  then,  a  moment  around  the  graves  of  those 
old  races  that  lie  silent  in  the  once  teeming  plains  of 
southwestern  Asia,  before  giving  attention  to  the  more 
wonderful  remnants  of  antiquity,  the  most  wonderful  of 
the  world,  which  lift  their  hoary  heads  over  the  mysterious 
land  of  the  Pharaohs. 

The  ancient  capital  of  Assur,  and  Nimrod,  and  Ninus, 
on  the  Tigris,  "that  exceeding  great  city  of  three  days' 
journey,"  to  which  Jonah  was  sent  with  warning  message, 
and  whose  requiem  Nahum  sung,  lost  for  centuries  almost 
from  the  map  of  the  world,  rises  before  us,  as  if  to  life 
again.  And  from  the  ruins  we  hear  the  story  of  her  great- 
ness and  her  desolation.  The  Median,  the  Greek,  the 
Roman,  the  Persian,  the  Turk,  the  Arab,  have  been  there, 
but  only  to  trample  Nineveh  in  the  dust.  It  was  Nineveh 
no  more :  a  vast  sweep  of  shapeless  mounds, — nothing 
besides.  Opening,  however,  at  last  before  intelligent 
search,  those  mounds  reveal,  as  at  magical  touch,  the 
realities  of  the  old  ages.  The  huge  figures  that  stood  as 
stone  sentinels  before  palace-halls,  colossal  winged  lions  and 


324  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

bulls  with  human  heads,  come  forth  as  if  living  creatures 
from  their  lurking-places.  The  herald-office  of  Sargon 
and  Sennacherib  produces  its  registers  on  slabs  of  alabas- 
ter; and  the  archives  of  their  state  department  are  read 
from  libraries  of  engraved  tile.  The  race  is  gone,  yet 
restored.  We  see  the  Eastern  despot,  and  the  abject 
people.  He  wields  authority,  unchecked,  over  property 
and  life :  they  rather  adore  him  as  a  god  than  obey  him 
as  a  man.  The  restoration,  in  whole  and  in  part,  fits 
precisely  the  delineation  found  in  our  old  Scriptures. 

Before  the  monumental  piles  on  the  Euphrates,  which 
mark  the  grave  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  later  empire,  we 
pause  only  to  listen  to  Mr.  Layard's  statement:  "On  all 
sides  fragments  of  glass,  marble,  pottery,  and  inscribed 
brick,  are  mingled  with  that  peculiar  nitrous  and  blanched 
soil  which,  had  from  the  remains  of  ancient  habitations, 
checks  or  destroys  vegetation,  and  renders  the  site  of 
Babylon  a  naked  and  hideous  waste.  Owls  start  from  the 
scanty  thickets,  and  the  foul  jackal  skulks  through  the 
furrows."  We  cannot  but  remember,  as  this  is  testified, 
how,  when  she  was  in  the  pride  of  her  power,  the  prophets 
had  written  :  "Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty 
of  the  Chaldee's  excellency,  shall  be  as  when  God  over- 
threw Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  Wild  beasts  of  the  desert 
shall  lie  there,  and  their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful 
creatures,  and  owls  shall  dwell  there." 

We  now  approach  that  marvelous  monumental  valley  of 
Northern  Africa  whose  genial  climate,  fertilizing  streams, 
and  impregnable  natural  defenses  of  inclosing  rock  and 


THE    MONUMENTS    OF    LOST   RACES  325 

surrounding  desert,  rendered  it  the  earliest  home  of  quiet 
labor  and  progressive  art;  and  whose  serene  atmosphere, 
embalming,  as  it  were,  the  works  of  its  inhabitants,  from 
the  very  primitive  time,  has  preserved  them  for  the  amazed 
contemplation  of  every  age  of  mankind.  We  follow  the 
track  trodden  by  old  Abraham,  when,  wending  his  obedient 
way  from  Mesopotamia,  he  sought  a  Syrian  home — the 
path  we  still  pursue,  along  which  traveled  himself  and 
descendants,  across  the  sands  of  Southern  Palestine,  when 
they  went  to  obtain  supplies  from  the  granaries  of  Egypt. 
The  venerable  city  of  the  priests  of  On,  which  rose  before 
the  patriarch's  eyes,  as,  with  his  little  caravan,  he  entered 
the  wondrous  valley,  no  longer  lifts  above  the  desert  dust 
its  massive  battlements.  An  obelisk  is  there,  the  oldest 
of  the  world,  bearing  characters  in  which  scholars  read 
the  epitaph  of  ages;  and  innumerable  relics  lie  around  its 
base,  in  the  mounds  heaped  by  desert  winds.  Nothing 
more  remains.  The  minarets  of  modern  Cairo,  not  far 
distant,  glitter  in  the  sun,  but  not  on  these  does  the  eye  rest. 
Over  them,  beyond  the  mighty  Nile,  against  the  western 
horizon,  the  great  pyramids  of  Cheops  arid  Cephrines  lift 
their  giant  forms  above  the  Lybian  hills;  and  on  these 
majestic  memorials  of  more,  perhaps,  than  forty,  or  even 
fifty  centuries,  the  beholder  cannot  but  gaze  in  mute  aston- 
ishment. He  sees  them  as  they  stood  when  Joseph  and 
Mary,  with  the  infant  Saviour,  found  refuge  here  from 
Herod ;  as  the  boy  Moses  saw  them  from  Pharaoh's  palace ; 
as  Abraham  and  Sarah  viewed  them  in  their  early  sojourn  ; 
and  the  mind  pauses  amazed,  solemnized. 

23 


326  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

Egypt  being  thus  before  us,  we  cast  a  rapid  glance  over 
its  unique  features,  and  then  for  a  moment  contemplate  its 
mightiest  works.  We  see  the  sacred  Nile  rolling  its  vast 
flood  from  the  far  south  toward  the  middle  sea  of  the 
ancient  world.  On  its  borders  we  behold  a  narrow  level 
strip  of  alluvial  soil,  constituting  a  peculiar  valley,  not 
exceeding,  above  or  south  of  the  delta,  an  average  breadth 
of  four  miles.  On  either  side  of  this  valley  rise  the  strange 
verdureless  hills,  whose  undulating  outline  slopes  off  into 
the  Arabian  or  Red  Sea  wilderness  on  the  east,  on  the 
west  into  the  vast  desert  of  Lybia.  These  hills,  towering 
sometimes  into  lofty  heights  of  naked  rock,  here  advance 
their  sombre  forms  to  the  river's  edge,  as  if  to  lave  them 
in  the  ancient  stream ;  there,  as  it  were,  doing  homage  to 
the  liquid  divinity,  they  recede  again  with  graceful  sweep. 
Over  their  crest  full  often  pours  the  desert  dust,  driven  by 
winds  that  seem  impatient  to  bury  the  old  monuments  from 
the  desecrating  hands  which  have  mutilated  them  for  ages. 
This  valley  is  the  ever-replenished  garden  which,  during 
the  early  centuries,  furnished  food  and  homes  for  countless 
millions.  Those  hills  supplied  the  material  for  enduring 
structures,  and  contain  the  chambers  wherein  the  old 
generations  laid  their  venerated  dead. 

Around  these  sepulchres  we  see  no  longer  the  children 
of  those  ancient  dead.  The  race,  over  whom  reigned 
Menes  and  Sesostris,  exists  no  more.  Here  and  there 
appears,  indeed,  a  small  community  of  oppressed  and 
inferior  creatures,  though  nominally  Christians  known  as 
Copts,  who  claim  descent  from  the  early  possessors  of  the 
land,  and  retain  something  of  their  language;  but  the 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  327 

Egyptian  is  in  Egypt  no  longer.  More  than  two  thousand 
years  have  rolled  away  since  he  became  subject  to  other 
races ;  and  for  more  than  half  that  time  he  has  really 
ceased  to  be  known.  The  Persian  hurled  his  gods  from 
their  throne.  The  Greek  in  part  restored  them,  but  only 
as  subsidary  to  his  own.  He  protected  the  people,  it  is 
true,  and  their  ancient  works,  but  it  was  with  a  spirit 
necessarily  foreign.  The  genius  which  made  Alexandria 
the  centre  of  Greek  letters,  and  gave  the  Septuagint  to 
the  world,  could  not,  if  it  would,  have  left  undisturbed  the 
stationary  system  of  the  old  castes  and  their  avocations. 
But  it  was  when  the  Roman  came  that  the  glory  of  Egypt 
departed.  Of  her  ancient  literature,  gathered  into  that 
great  library  of  the  Ptolemies  which  Livy  characterized 
as  elegantise  regum  curaque  egregium  opus,  and  which 
contained,  it  is  said,  not  less  than  700,000  volumes,  more 
than  half  was  unintentionally  destroyed  by  Julius  Caesar. 
(Plutarch.)  And  the  remainder,  replenished  by  the 
splendid  Pergamian  contribution  of  Antony,  and  by 
subsequent  additions,  was  again  devastated  in  the  cele- 
brated destruction  of  the  Serapium  by  Theophilus — the 
Archbishop — under  sanction  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius, 
A.D.  389,  (Gibbon,  xxviii.)  When  the  Saracen  followed, 
A..D.  638,  with  a  culture  scarcely  less  destructive  than  his 
own  cimeter  to  all  that  opposed,  the  annihilation  of  this 
invaluable  treasury  of  old  learning  was  completed,  (Gibbon, 
li.,  and  Bishop  Newton,  xii.,)  and  rapidly  failed  the  ancient 
population.  And  when  the  Mameluke  succeeded,  the  work 
of  Egypt's  ruin  was  done.  In  contemplating  here,  there- 


328  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

fore,   the  remains  of   antiquity,  we   are   literally  looking 
upon  the  monuments  of  a  lost  race. 

The  famed  pyramid  of  Cheops  first  demands  attention. 
Bearing  in  mind  its  gigantic  proportions  and  nice  adjust- 
ment, a  base  of  nearly  eight  hundred  feet  on  the  side,  ranged 
with  the  cardinal  points,  and  covering  some  thirteen  acres, 
and  a  perpendicular  height  of  a  little  less  than  five  hundred 
feet,  we  suppose  ourselves  to  visit  this  in  company  with 
Lepsius,  the  most  accomplished  of  explorers,  and  let  him 
describe  the  scene :  "A  number  of  Bedouins  gather  around 
us,  and  wait  for  the  moment  when  we  shall  ascend  the 
pyramid,  in  order  to  raise  us,  with  their  strong  brawny 
arms,  up  the  steps,  which  are  between  three  and  four  feet 
high.  Scarcely  is  the  signal  given,  when  immediately  each 
of  us  is  surrounded  by  several  Bedouins,  who  drag  us  up 
the  rough,  steep  path  to  the  summit,  as  in  a  whirlwind.  A 
few  minutes  and  our  flag  is  unfurled  on  the  summit  of  the 
oldest  and  highest  of  known  human  works.  The  panoramic 
view  of  the  landscape  spread  at  our  feet  now  rivets  our 
attention.  On  the  one  side  the  Nile  valley,  intersected  by 
long  serpentine  dams,  here  and  there  dotted  with  villages 
and  cultivated  fields,  over  to  the  Hoquottam  hills,  opposite, 
on  whose  most  northerly  point  the  citadel  of  Cairo  rises 
above  the  town  stretched  out  at  their  base.  On  the  other 
side,  the  Lybian  desert,  a  vast  sea  of  sandy  plains,  and 
barren,  rocky  hills,  boundless,  colorless,  noiseless,  enlivened 
by  no  creature,  no  plants,  no  trace  of  the  presence  of  man, 
not  even  by  tombs ;  and  between  these  scenes  on  the  right 
and  left,  the  ruined  Necropolis,  whose  general  position 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  329 

and  simple  outline  lie  spread  out  clearly  and  distinctly  as  on 
a  map.  What  a  spectacle  !  and  what  recollections  does  it 
call  forth !  When  Abraham  came  to  Egypt  for  the  first 
titoe,  he  saw  these  very  pyramids,  which  had  been  already 
built  several  centuries.  In  the  plain  before  us  lay  ancient 
Memphis,  the  residence  of  the  kings,  on  whose  tombs  we 
are  standing;  there  dwelt  Joseph,  and  ruled  the  land  under 
one  of  the  wisest  and  most  powerful  Pharaohs  of  the  newly 
restored  monarchy.  Farther  away,  to  the  left  of  the  Mo- 
quottam  hills,  where  the  fruitful  low  ground  extends  on 
the  eastern  arm  of  the  Nile,  beyond  Heliopolis,  (On,)  dis- 
tinguished by  its  obelisk,  begins  the  blest  region  of  Goshen, 
out  of  which  Moses  led  his  people  to  the  Syrian  desert. 
It  would  not,  indeed,  be  difficult,  from  our  position,  to 
recognize  that  ancient  fig-tree  on  the  road  to  Heliopolis, 
at  Matarieh,  under  whose  shade,  according  to  the  tradition 
of  the  country,  Mary  rested  with  the  Holy  Infant.  How 
many  thousand  pilgrims  of  all  nations  have  since  visited 
these  wonders  of  the  world,  down  to  ourselves,  who,  the 
youngest  in  time,  are  yet  but  the  predecessors  of  many 
other  thousands  who  will  succeed  us,  ascend  these  pyramids, 
and  contemplate  them  with  astonishment  ? 

The  accomplished  savan  has  disappeared,  we  suppose, 
while  we  have  been  gazing  on  this  scene.  We  therefore 
descend  the  enormous  slope,  and  find  ourselves  safely  at 
its  base.  Dr.  Lepsius,  however,  imagine,  rejoins  us,  and 
describes  an  exploration:  "I  descended  to  the  elevated 
entrance  of  the  pyramid,  and  providing  myself  and  attend- 
ants with  lights,  we  entered,  like  miners,  the  steeply-sloping 

28* 


330  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE   BIBLE. 

shaft,  and  reached  the  gallery,  and  so-called  king's  cham- 
ber. We  admired  the  infinitely  fine  seams  of  the  enormous 
blocks,  and  examined  the  quality  of  the  stones  of  the  pas- 
sages and  chambers.  In  the  spacious  hall,  whose  floor, 
walls,  and  ceilings  are  entirely  built  of  granite,  and  there- 
fore return  a  metalic-sounding  echo,  we  sang  a  national 
hymn,  which  sounded  so  powerfully  and  solemnly  that  our 
guides  afterwards  told  the  remaining  Bedouins  that  we  had 
selected  the  innermost  part  of  the  pyramid  to  perform 
divine  service  and  utter  a  loud  prayer." 

Let  us  listen  a  little  longer  to  one  so  competent  to  in- 
struct on  these  subjects.  As  we  look  around  upon  the 
tombs  over  which  the  mighty  pile,  as  it  were,  keeps  watch, 
he  tells  us:  "Almost  all  of  these  were  built  during,  or 
shortly  after,  the  erection  of  the  great  pyramids.  The 
painting  within  them,  on  a  very  fine  coating  of  lime,  is 
often  beautiful  beyond  conception,  and  is  sometimes  pre- 
served as  fresh  and  as  perfect  as  if  it  had  been  done  yester- 
day. The  representations  on  the  walls  chiefly  contain 
scenes  from  the  life  of  the  deceased,  and  appear  especially 
intended  to  place  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectator  his 
wealth  in  cattle,  fish,  game,  boats,  domestics,  etc.  We 
thus  become  familiar  with  all  the  details  of  his  private  life. 
The  numerous  inscriptions  describe  or  designate  these 
scenes,  or  they  exhibit  the  often  widely-branching  family 
of  the  deceased,  and  all  his  titles  and  offices,  so  that  I 
could  almost  compose  a  court  and  state  calendar  of  King 
Cheops,  or  Cephren.  The  most  splendid  tombs,  or  rock- 
sepulchres,  belonged  principally  to  the  princes,  their  rela- 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF    LOST    RACES.  331 

tives,  or  the  highest  official  persons  under  the  kings,  beside 
whose  pyramids  they  are  laid ;  and  not  unfrequently  I  have 
found  the  tombs  of  father,  son,  and  grandson,  even  great- 
grandson,  so  that  whole  pedigrees  of  these  distinguished 
families,  who,  above  5000  years  ago,  formed  the  nobility  of 
the  land,  are  brought  to  light.  The  most  beautiful  of  the 
tombs,  which,  with  many  others,  I  myself  discovered  be- 
neath the  sand,  that  here  buries  all  things,  belongs  to  a 
prince  of  the  family  of  King  Cheops." 

The  unhesitating  confidence  with  which  our  renowned 
instructor  thus  declares  the  meaning  of  these  old,  and,  to 
us,  totally  unintelligible  inscriptions,  has  of  course  been 
observed.  And  we  may  not  be  offending,  perhaps,  against 
the  intelligence  of  our  readers,  if  we  presume  that,  to 
some  of  them  at  least,  it  will  not  be  uninstructive  to  have 
here  presented  an  outline  of  the  process  by  which  the  long- 
lost  art  of  reading  the  hieroglyphics  has  been,  to  a  great 
extent,  recovered. 

While  some  French  troops,  in  Egypt,  in  the  year  1799, 
were  engaged  upon  excavations  for  the  Fort  St.  Julien, 
near  Rosetta,  they  dug  up  a  mutilated  slab  of  black  basalt, 
marked  with  various  characters.  This  was  the  since  cele- 
brated Rosetta  stone.  It  contained  an  inscription  in  three 
forms,  one  of  which  was  Greek,  and  proved  to  be  a  decree 
in  favor  of  Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  concluding  with  these 
words:  "This  decree  shall  be  engraved  on  hard  stone,  in 
sacred,  common,  and  Greek  characters."  The  stone  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  English,  after  the  French  troops  in 
Egypt  had  capitulated,  and  was  deposited  in  the  British 


332  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

Museum.  Copies  of  the  inscriptions  were,  at  an  early  day 
thereafter,  distributed  to  learned  men  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica. And  through  the  combined  efforts  and  suggestions 
of  several  of  these,  Champollion  at  length  succeeded  in 
detecting  the  alphabetical  nature  of  the  symbols.  In  1824 
he  published  a  system  of  reading  them.  And  this  has 
been  since  so  extended  by  Rossellini,  Lepsius,  and  other 
distinguished  men,  that  the  results  have  become  indeed 
surprising. 

In  magic  boat  we  now  fancy  ourselves  borne  rapidly  up 
the  mighty  Nile  to  ancient  Thebes.  Three  hundred  miles 
are  measured,  and  where  stood  the  renowned  city  of  a 
hundred  gates  we  step  ashore.  The  prospect  we  again  sur- 
vey with  borrowed  eyes:  "Nowhere  in  all  Egypt  do  such 
rugged  hills  embrace  so  beautiful  a  plain,  and  nowhere  is 
there  a  spot  so  well  suited  for  the  capital  of  a  great  nation. 
The  mountains  are  here,  and  the  river  flows  between  them, 
and  Memnon  sits  calmly  on  his  throne,  and  looks  calmly 
over  the  river  with  stony  eyes,  unused  to  tears,  and  nothing 
appears  to  lament  the  dead  glory.  Neither  sun  nor  moon 
shines  less  brilliantly,  less  joyously,  that  kings  and  princes, 
matrons  and  virgins,  wise  and  foolish,  weak  and  strong,  are 
all  alike  dead  in  the  past,  dead  in  the  valley,  dead  in  the  rock- 
hewn  sepulchres ;  the  palaces  ruins,  the  temples  ruins,  the 
homes  gone,  the  hearth-fires  ashes  long  ago,  the  hearts  of 
the  men  of  Thebes  dust,  insensible,  still,  silent  dust.  You 
can  scarce  believe  it  the  site  of  a  ruined  capital,  once  the 
wonder  of  the  world  for  magnificence.  There  is  nothing 
to  indicate  it,  except  immediately  around  Luxor  and  Kar- 


THE   MONUMENTS    OP   LOST    RACES.  333 

nak.  Solitary  on  the  eastern  side  stands  Karnak ;  a  ma- 
jestic solitude  indeed,  among  heaps  of  earth  that  may 
cover  the  floors  of  ancient  habitations.  Luxor,  about  two 
miles  south,  or  higher  up  the  river,  has  only  near  its  own 
vast  ruins,  and  the  bereaved  obelisk,  whose  mate  was  taken 
years  ago  to  Paris.  Karnak  is  a  greater  wonder  than  the 
pyramids.  The  heaping  of  stone  together  in  such  a  mass 
was  indeed  a  kingly  idea  of  Cheops ;  but  here  was  the 
same  royal  thought,  the  same  masses  of  rock,  hewn  into 
graceful  forms  and  shapes  that  indicated  taste  and  design, 
and  grouped  in  a  temple  that  surpassed  even  the  pyramids 
in  extent.  Approaching  the  great  front  from  the  river,  we 
have  before  us  the  two  propylon  towers,  whose  vast  size 
and  height  surpass  all  others  in  Egypt.  Long  before 
reaching  the  gateway  between  them,  we  are  passing 
through  an  avenue  of  sphinxes,  which  are  in  fact  rams  of 
colossal  size,  facing  the  worshiper  on  each  side  as  he 
approaches  the  temple.  Passing  through  the  pylon,  or 
gateway,  we  enter  a  court  of  nearly  300  feet  each  way, 
with  a  corridor  on  each  side,  and  the  remains  of  a  double 
row  of  columns  through  the  centre.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  this  court  stand  two  other  lofty  and  grand  pro- 
pylon  towers,  passing  between  which  we  enter  the  great 
hall  of  columns.  This  hall  is  over  300  feet  in  breadth  by 
nearly  200  in  depth.  In  it  there  are  still  standing  a  hun- 
dred columns,  while  others  lie  prostrate.  Of  these  col- 
umns, the  central  row,  including  base  and  capital,  are  90 
feet  high,  with  a  diameter  of  12  feet.  The  others  are  60 
feet  high  and  9  feet  in  diameter ;  and  for  the  most  part, 


334  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

be  it  observed,  they  are  of  single  blocks  of  stone.  On  the 
southern  side  of  this  great  hall  it  was  that  Champollion 
discovered  the  since  celebrated  cartouche  of  Sheshonk,  or 
Shishak,  and  the  remarkable  delineation  representing  his 
sack  of  Jerusalem,  recorded  in  1  Kings,  xiv.  25,  and 
2  Chronicles,  xii.  Other  courts  of  like  character,  save  here 
and  there  a  mighty  obelisk,  lie  beyond,  and  still  others,  be- 
fore reaching  the  sanctuary  in  which  the  gods  sat  of  old  to 
receive  homage  and  sacrifice;  and  beyond  it,  the  build- 
ings stretch  even  farther  to  the  east  than  this  prolonged 
approach  on  the  west.  All  these  vast  courts,  and  areas, 
obelisks,  towers,  and  halls,  are  or  were  surrounded  by 
columns,  sphinxes,  and  statues,  and  every  column  and 
stone  is  covered  with  carving,  and  brilliantly  painted. 
Not  only  was  the  temple  colossal  in  its  proportions,  cover- 
ing a  space  of  more  than  half  a  square  mile,  but  it  was 
gorgeous  beyond  all  description  in  its  furniture  and  adorn- 
ments." 

Such  are  specimens  of  the  monuments  of  this  ancient 
race — only  specimens ;  for  the  land  is  full  of  others,  some 
of  which  are  well-nigh  more  wonderful.  And  what  a  story 
do  they  tell  of  crowded  population,  protracted  toil,  grand 
design,  mechanical  skill,  and  developed  art !  Yet  what, 
also,  of  strange  delusion,  misapplied  energy,  cruel  oppres- 
sion, and  incredible  suffering ! 

Our  imperfect  survey  of  the  old  races  is  now  done.  We 
have  sought  them  not  indeed  in  every  inhabited  region  of 
the  globe.  For  so  extended  an  exploration,  we  have 
neither  the  adequate  information,  nor,  as  yet,  the  means  of 


THE   MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  335 

obtaining  it;  nor,  if  we  had,  would  oar  limits  authorize  so 
full  a  discussion.  We  have,  however,  viewed  the  monu- 
mental records  of  ancient  tribes  in  all  the  great  divisions 
of  the  earth.  We  have  traced  them  in  our  own  country ; 
along  the  great  Polynesian  Paradise,  across  the  Pacific  to 
the  Eastern  Asiatic  islands;  through  China,  India,  and 
Persia ;  then  along  the  ancient  Scythian  track  to  Western 
Europe;  drawing  inward  thence,  we  have  viewed  them 
near  the  centres  of  early  history,  in  Italy  and  Greece,  As- 
syria and  Egypt.  It  now  only  remains  to  gather  up  the 
results — to  derive  from  these  hoary  monuments  just  con- 
clusions. In  doing  this,  with  the  facts  mainly  before  us, 
we  may  be  very  brief. 

The  first  inference  we  suggest,  as  clearly  indicated  by  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  these  venerable  witnesses,  is,  that 
they  fortify  other  evidence  proving  the  essential  unity  of 
the  human  family.  The  great  principle  is,  indeed,  as  we 
have  formerly  shown,  established  in  many  ways.  The 
masters  of  physiology  and  comparative  anatomy  have 
traced  it  in  the  special  laws  of  animal  function.  The  psy- 
chologist has  found  it  in  instinctive  sentiment,  and  in  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  spiritual  faculty.  The  ethnologist  has 
beheld  it  in  the  ascertained  facts  of  tribal  origin,  circum- 
stantial variation,  and  transmitted  peculiarities,  among  the 
dispersed  people  of  the  earth.  And  the  learned  philolo- 
gist has  proved  it  from  the  undeniable  sameness  of  ele- 
ments, grammatical  and  verbal,  which  he  has  discovered  in 
all  the  examined  languages  of  mankind.  And  the  import- 
ant truth  we  here  see  engraved  on  the  imperishable  tombs 


336  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

of  the  early  races.  The  correspondent  facts  are  too  numer- 
ous and  significant  to  admit  of  being  supposed  mere  casual 
coincidences.  Idea  and  custom,  so  singularly  concurrent, 
point  unmistakably  to  a  common  sgurce.  The  elevated 
mound,  often  square  and  adjusted  in  one  direction,  often 
symbolically  circular,  and  sometimes,  by  a  compromise  be- 
tween these,  constructed  in  the  octagonal  form,  is  almost 
everywhere.  The  sacrificial  fire  well-nigh  universal.  The 
mystical  worship  of  nature,  especially  of  the  sun,  of  the 
heavens,  and  the  earth,  degenerating  into  gross  forms  of 
idolatry,  sometimes  cruel,  sometimes  groveling,  is  all  around 
the  globe.  The  same  general  sentiments  toward  the  dead 
exist  in  every  quarter,  and  kindred  practices  regarding 
them.  In  all  we  see  the  same  out-working  mind,  variant, 
indeed,  in  energy  and  action,  yet  still  the  same,  not  only  in 
general  character,  but  in  dominant  idea  and  significant 
peculiarity.  Especially  does  one  great  aspiration  after 
immortality  go  up  from  the  graves  that  surround  the  tem- 
ples of  the  Toltec  and  the  Druid,  from  Cuzco,  Xanking, 
Elora,  Nineveh,  and  Karnak. 

Xor  is  the  conclusion  at  all  weakened,  by  whatever 
reasonable  allowance  may  be  made  for  the  principle  urged 
with  anti-Christian  purpose  by  certain  writers,  Mr.  Squier, 
for  instance,  (see  his  paper,  Smithn.  Contribn.,  vol.  ii.  art. 
ix.  p.  99,)  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  "these  resemblances 

are  the  inevitable  results  of  similar  conditions That 

human  development  must  be,  if  not  in  precisely  the  same 
channels,  in  the  same  direction,  and  must  pass  through  the 
same  stages."  The  statement  is  no  doubt  partially  true, 


THE   MONUMENTS  OF   LOST   RACES.  337 

but  very  far  otherwise  the  suggested  inference.  For  just 
in  so  far  as  it  is  true,  it  carries  in  itself  the  admission  of  a 
common  human  nature,  and  that  involves,  as  we  have  seen, 
(ante,  "Human  Family,"  p.  62,  etc.)  almost  demonstratively 
a  common  origin.  In  no  unscriptural  sense,  assuredly,  can 
the  principle  account  for  some  of  the  surprising  correspond- 
ences found  in  the  old  customs  of  the  world.  Certain  of 
the  more  special  of  these  undoubtedly  necessitate  the  con- 
clusion of  an  identical  origin.  To  two  of  them  we  would 
for  a  moment  direct  particular  attention. 

That  remarkable  sitting  posture  of  the  dead,  so  general 
among  the  old  American  races,  and  traced  back  through 
the  Pacific  islands,  not  only  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia, 
but  even  in  certain  forms  to  Thibet  and  Siberia,  is,  beyond 
question,  a  most  significant  circumstance.  It  adds  convinc- 
ing proof  to  the  many  other  evidences  of  common  descent 
in  all  tribes  of  the  red  man,  and  plainly  presents  one  mark 
of  the  track  along  which  his  ancestors  made  their  way  to 
the  American  shore.  Not  only  so,  but  it  would  seem  to 
render  certain  the  fact  of  early  association  of  some  kind 
between  all  the  people  among  whom  it  in  any  measure  pre- 
vailed. "Who  can  doubt  the  existence  of  an  affinity," 
asks  Prescott,  with  great  force,  "or,  at  least,  intercourse, 
between  races  that  had  this  strange  habit  of  burying  their 
dead  ?» 

The  other  fact  we  adduce,  is  the  even  more  remarkable 

series  of  correspondences  connected  with  time  divisions. 

The  week  of  seven  days,  affirmed  to  have  prevailed  over 

so  large  a  part  of  the  ancient  world,  is  one  of  the  elements 

29 


338  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

in  this  series.  It  existed,  says  Laplace,  (Systerae  du 
Monde,)  "in  India  among  the  Brahmins,  and  was  in  use 
among  the  Arabs,  the  Jews,  the  Assyrians,  the  Chinese, 
and  in  all  the  East."  If,  as  would  seem,  the  celebrated 
savan  makes  this  statement  on  reliable  evidence,  it  must 
be  conceded  that  it  indicates  the  existence — in  a  very  early 
period,  long  prior  to  history — of  some  great  common  in- 
fluence among  that  vast  range  of  people,  determining 
custom  in  regard  to  the  practical  perplexities  of  reckoning 
time.  Nor  is  this  consequence  affected  by  difference  of 
opinion  respecting  the  origin  of  so  remarkable  a  cycle  of 
days.  If  philosophers,  disinclined  to  the  sacred  system  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  regard'.ess  of  the  mighty  array  of  evi- 
dences of  every  kind  attesting  them,  will  reject  their  simple 
and  rational  account  of  this  primitive  week,  (see  Genesis, 
i.  and  ii.  1-3,) — an  account  collaterally  confirmed,  in  the 
most  remarkable  manner,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  disclo- 
sures of  geology — let  them  cherish  the  idea  of  its  deriva- 
tion from  early  subtle  astronomical  knowledge.  It  will  not 
affect  the  testified  fact  of  the  singular  ancient  custom, 
though  it  may  exemplify  the  credulity  of  unbelief;  for 
nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  opinion  can  seldom  rest 
on  a  slenderer  basis.  That  the  inconspicuous  planets, 
Mars  and  Saturn,  and  the  seldom  seen  bright  little  Mer- 
cury, so  commonly  lost  in  the  sun's  light,  should  have  been 
so  nicely  noticed  as  to  have  been  associated  with  the  sun 
and  moon,  the  beautiful  Venus  and  the  brilliant  Jupiter, 
in  an  intricate  astronomical  system,  and  that  such  system 
should  have  been  applied  to  the  purpose  of  designating 


THE"  MONUMENTS   OP    LOST    RACES.  339 

days  in  this  peculiar  cycle — previously  to  the  separation  of 
Egyptians,  Hindoos,  Chinese,  etc.,  or  that  such  system 
could  have  been,  by  one  of  these  people,  diffused  over  the 
rest  at  the  age  supposed — must  be  regarded  as  altogether 
improbable.  Nor  is  the  source  of  this  idea  worthier  of 
credit.  It  is  referred  (see  Syste'me  du  Monde)  to  the 
Roman  historian,  Dion  Cassius,  who  wrote  as  late  as  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century  of  our  era,  and  who,  there- 
fore, if  otherwise  of  highest  character,  as  notoriously  he  is 
not,  and  if  not  discredited  on  this  very  point  by  the  earlier 
testimony  of  Josephus,  as  he  is,  (see  Contra  Apion,  book 
ii.  6-8,)  was  too  far  from  the  origin  of  this  custom  to  be 
at  all  trustworthy  respecting  it.  He  certainly  could  not 
have  known,  and  must  have  mainly  speculated,  concerning 
such  a  matter  pertaining  to  from  twenty  to  fifty  centuries 
before  his  time ;  and,  in  all  probability,  applied  backward 
the  convenient  designations  for  the  days  assigned  at  an 
age  long  subsequent  to  the  origin  of  the  week.  Strange 
that  evidence  like  this  can  be  preferred  to  that  of  the 
Bible ! 

The  mere  circumstance  that  these  commonly  and  occa- 
sionally visible  heavenly  bodies  together  make  seven  in 
number,  adds  really  nothing  to  the  probability  of  such 
astronomical  introduction  of  the  weekly  cycle,  because  it 
is  demonstrable  that  the  number  seven  sustains  relations 
to  the  constitution  of  nature  and  the  history  of  human 
thought  incomparably  more  impressive,  in  connection  with 
the  part  it  performs  in  the  Scriptures,  than  any  such  single 
instance  of  correspondence  suggested  in  opposition  to 


310  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

sacred  statement.  The  singular  prominence  given  this 
numeral  in  Holy  Writ  is  familiar  to  every  reader.  It 
marks  the  completing  of  creation,  the  recurrence  of 
sacred  seasons,  the  fullness  of  spiritual  blessings,  and  the 
terribleness  of  divine  inflictions.  From  the  first  of  Gen- 
esis to  the  last  of  Revelation,  we  have  "the  seventh  day," 
"the  seventh  year,"  "the  seven  spirits  of  God,"  "the  seven 
vials,"  etc.  etc.  In  nature  and  history  it  is  scarcely  less 
prominent.  The  notes  of  the  musical  scale,  the  seven 
colors  of  the  solar  spectrum,  the  seven  neck-vertebras  of 
mammalian  creatures,  the  seven  decades  of  human  life,  etc., 
are  instances  in  the  structure  of  the  world.  And  the  old 
sentiments  of  mankind  we  find  handed  down  in  proverbial 
phrases  of  universal  usage,  "the  seven  wise  men,"  "the 
seven  wonders,"  and  "the  seven  senses."  These  sentiments 
are,  however,  otherwise  testified.  No  number  is  so  pecu- 
liarly used  by  the  ancient  bards.  Virgil's  "bis  septem 
Nymphce,"  "septem  collectis  navibus,"  "septem  ingentia 
corpora,"  etc.,  are  familiar;  while,  from  the  Greek  poets, 
Eusebius  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  quote  passages  show- 
ing the  prevalent  impression  of  a  certain  sacredness  in 
this  number,  especially  as  applied  to  the  last  day  of  the 
week.  The  Pythagoreans  styled  it  a  number  worthy  of  ven- 
eration, G£paffii.ou  a'ws,  as  referred  to  by  Cicero,  when  he 
says,  (Tusculan  Questions,  i.  x.  20,)  that  Xenocrites,  and 
before  him  Pythagoras,  "numerum  dixet  esse,  cujus  vis,  in 
n at nra  maxima  esset." 

In  all  this  there  is,  certainly,  something  very  remarkable. 
It  would   seem   to   be  ti  manifold  testimony — human   and 


THE    MONUMENTS    OF    LOST    RACES.  841 

divine,  in  history  and  in  nature — to  some  extraordinary 
significance  originally  assigned  this  number.  And  what 
that  meaning  but  the  office  of  rendering  perpetually  mem- 
orable the  great  varieties  and  the  important  duties  con- 
nected with  the  Sabbath  of  the  Patriarch  and  the  Jew, 
and  the  Lord's  day  of  the  Christian  ? 

Still,  if  to  it  all,  and  vastly  more  sustaining  the  incom- 
parable disclosures  of  the  Bible,  opposite  and  most  im- 
probable hypotheses  be  preferred,  the  fact  remains,  that 
ancient  week  of  seven  days,  affirmed  to  have  existed  from 
Egypt  through  Asia  to  the  extremity  of  China;  and  it 
undoubtedly  indicates  some  potent  common  influence  of 
old,  through  that  immense  compass. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  only,  perhaps  not  the  most 
striking  fact  of  the  kind.  In  some  of  these  regions  the 
week  seems  to  have  been  conveniently  and  yet  singularly 
abbreviated.  According  to  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  the  old 
Hindoos  had  a  peculiar  week  of  five  days,  that  is,  every 
fifth  day  with  them  was  a  market  day.  Among  the  Chi- 
nese, according  to  Dr.  Morrison,  there  existed  the  same 
custom  of  a  fifth-day  market.  And  with  the  old  Mexi- 
cans, singularly  enough,  there  was  a  like  week  of  five  days. 
Every  fifth  day  was  also  peculiarly  their  market  day.  (See 
Antonio  de  Solis's  Conquest  of  Mexico,  quoted  by  Nor- 
man on  Yucatan,  p  185.)  Moreover,  in  their  chronologi- 
cal records  or  calendar,  the  Chinese  employ  two  sets  of 
characters  or  hieroglyphics,  designated  stems  and  roots; 
and  the  old  Mexican  calendar  was  also  distinguished  by  a 


342  SCIENCE   A   WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

double  hieroglyphical  system.  Dr.  Schoolcraft,  who  gives 
these  facts,  (vol.  i.  p.  345,)  very  justly  urges  them  in  sup- 
port of  our  conclusion ;  and  in  connection  with  them  presses 
the  further  question,  founded  upon  others  scarcely  less  sig- 
nificant, "How  is  it  that  the  Mexicans  had  a  cycle  of  60 
years,  or  a  double  cycle  of  120  years,  exactly  corresponding 
with  that  of  the  Chinese  ?" 

But  interesting  and  important  as  is  the  great  verity  of  a 
common  parentage  for  all  races,  both  as  related  to  revela- 
tion and  as  bearing  on  the  destinies  of  the  world,  and  cer- 
tain as  it  is  that  "the  recognition  of  this  bond  of  humanity 
becomes,"  in  the  language  of  both  the  great  Humboldts, 
"  one  of  the  noblest  leading  principles  in  the  history  of 
mankind,"  we  cannot  here  elaborate  it  further,  as  evidenced 
by  the  old  monuments.  The  distinct  suggestion,  the 
strongly  testified  conclusion,  we  leave  to  rest  on  the  basis 
of  facts  already  adduced. 

The  next  inference  we  deduce  from  the  monumental  story 
is  the  existence  of  a  far  higher  than  rude  condition  of  intel- 
ligence, and  adaptation  to  art,  among  primitive  men.  The 
earlier  races  in  general  were  certainly  very  far  from  being 
the  savage  creatures  supposed  in  anti-scriptural  theories. 
This,  if  the  old  monuments  prove  anything,  they  would 
seem  to  place  beyond  dispute.  Nor  is  it  a  fact  of  trifling 
import.  It  tallies  most  remarkably  with  revealed  teaching. 
It  speaks  of  the  original  dignity  and  high  endowments  of 
human  kind,  though  it  declares  something,  too,  of  their 
downward  tendency  and  wide-spread  degradation.  If  early 
man  were  thus,  as  his  oldest  obvious  works  affirm,  and  as  the 


THE    MONUMENTS    OF   LOST   RACES  343 

Bible  tells,  a  creature  not  only  of  high  gifts,  but  of  no 
mean  knowledge,  bestowed  at  his  birth,  the  contemplation 
of  him  there  places  us  in  the  immediate  presence  of  his 
Almighty  Father,  giving  to  the  earth  a  son  stamped  with 
at  least  his  own  intellectual  image.  But  as  we  gaze  upon 
the  scene  of  that  gift,  and  look  up  to  the  great  Source  of 
that  impress,  the  intellectual  becomes,  in  our  view,  blended 
with  the  moral;  and  the  conviction  fastens  on  the  mind, 
that  not  a  sagacity  enabling  him  to  fashion  matter,  and 
subjugate  brutes,  and  battle  with  physical  antagonists,  was 
man's  prime  distinction,  but  a  large  capacity  for  the  true, 
the  beautiful,  and  the  good — an  earnest,  deathless  longing 
after  the  Infinite,  the  Eternal,  and  the  Holy.  And  when 
this  conviction  is  received,  the  final  purpose  of  such  a 
nature,  the  great  destiny  of  creatures  whose  pre-eminence 
is  their  spiritual  essence,  beckons  thought  inward  to  an- 
other sphere.  The  solemn,  endless  future  rises  up  to 
view,  with  its  unmeasured  retributions ;  and  religion,  spite 
of  all  the  philosophies,  and  all  the  unbeliefs  of  the  world, 
is  seen  to  be  of  necessity  the  all-pervading  influence  among 
men. 

But  this  deduction  from  the  remains  of  ancient  races 
stands  immediately  connected  with  another,  no  less  fur- 
nished by  the  monuments:  the  fact  of  a  strange  moral 
perversion  in  every  early  community — the  existence  of  a 
strictly  universal  bias  toward  the  false  and  the  bad,  in  those 
very  relations  where  the  true  and  the  right  were  of  inestim- 
able import.  What  tremendous  significancy  there  is  in  the 
great  grooves  for  blood  (human  undoubtedly)  cut  in  the 


344  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR    THE    BIBLE. 

old  altar-stones  of  Central  America  !  What  abominations 
are  revealed  by  the  monstrous  idols  of  India !  What 
degradation  in  the  sacred  bulls  and  embalmed  reptiles 
found  under  the  shadows  of  Karnak  and  the  pyramids !  It 
is  a  phenomenon  we  see,  indeed,  every  day — the  intellect 
working  with  energy  often  surprising,  and  achieving  much 
that  is  serviceable,  sometimes  what  is  even  great  and  en- 
during, while  the  moral  being  gravitates  toward  corrup- 
tion, and  grovels  in  the  dust.  But  nowhere  is  the  spec- 
tacle more  sadly  conspicuous  than  in  the  old  home  of  the 
Pharaohs.  Besides  her  wonders  in  architecture,  her  early 
literature,  and  her  renown  for  that  wisdom  which  brought 
the  fathers  of  Grecian  thought  to  her  halls  for  instruction, 
her  skill  in  metallurgic  and  other  like  operations  has 
stamped  Egypt's  home  name  "Chemi"  upon  the  subtlest 
of  physical  sciences,  chemistry;  and  yet  the  people  bowed 
down  to  images  of  stone,  yea,  worse,  to  very  brutes,  and 
even  insects ! 

As  we  contemplate  this,  the  mind  turns  instinctively  to 
that  higher  instruction  which  explains  the  phenomenon, 
while  it  furnishes  the  needed  remedy.  That  better  teach- 
ing tells  of  this  lapse  from  the  holy  in  the  olden  time,  and 
of  its  progressive  mischiefs  ;  but  it  points  out,  too,  its 
actual  character  and  its  provided  cure  Place  the  tent  of 
heavenly-minded  old  Abraham  by  the  proudest  palace  ever 
reared  of  Egyptian  granite,  and  which  is  really  the  greater  ? 
Which  sends  out  the  influences  that  have  shaped,  and  are 
yet  to  shape,  the  destinies  of  the  world?  Which  is  iden- 
tified with  the  precious  truths  and  holy  agencies  that  train 


THE   MONUMENTS   OP   LOST   RACES.  345 

our  children,  support  us  in  sorrow,  arm  us  for  duty  and 
death,  and  make  home  so  sweet  a  word?  How  poor,  to 
minds  instructed  like  the  patriarch's,  to  spirits  lifted  up  to 
communion  with  Him  who  fills  heaven  and  earth,  must 
have  appeared,  yea,  how  unutterably  sad,  those  masses  of 
stone  so  laboriously  piled  by  idolatry  in  the  land  of  Ham ! 
How  significant  is  the  almost  total  silence  respecting  them 
in  the  inspired  narrative  ! 

The  debt,  then,  we  owe  our  Bibles  for  the  readjustments 
they  effect  in  the  lost  relations  of  truth  and  of  the  human 
faculties,  comes  up  as  another  obvious  lesson  from  the  old 
tombs  of  the  world.  Here  is  the  agency  that  has  not  only 
severed  the  chains  which  bound  intelligence  to  a  loathsome 
mass  of  moral  corruption,  but  has  imparted  the  spirit  of 
heaven  and  the  vigor  of  hope  to  the  great  benefactors  of 
the  species  these  hundreds  of  years.  This  was  the  power 
which  tranquilized  Europe,  when  the  barbarian  hurricane 
had  ingulfed  the  empire  of  the  Caesars ;  and  this  imparted 
to  modern  civilization  its  distinctive  character  and  its 
progressive  energy.  Influences  hence  emanating  opened 
the  eyes  of  Kepler,  trained  the  genius  of  Bacon,  and 
placed  the  torch  of  discovery  in  the  hands  of  Newton. 
Truth,  as  taught  in  these  sacred  pages,  and  the  spirit  they 
inculcate,  have  given  to  Britain  her  chief  glory ;  and  the 
same  truth,  the  same  spirit,  have  founded  in  the  old  home 
of  the  red  man  a  mighter  than  British  empire.  May  our 
people  so  cling  to  those  vital  truths,  so  cherish  that  wise 
and  heaven-favored  spirit,  as  to  convert  into  enduring  fact 
what  was  at  best  but  probable  conjecture  a  hundred  years 


346  SCIENCE    A   WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

ago,  when  Bishop  Berkeley  wrote,  with  a  singular  intuition 
that  more  than  atones  for  defective  harmony : — 

"Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way, 
The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
The  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day: 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

But  this  suggests  a  final  thought,  arising  also  from  the 
old  monuments :  the  end  that  comes  to  human  things.  It 
may  be  that  Divine  Providence  sees  best  to  order  change 
for  nations  as  for  individuals,  even  irrespective  of  their  vice 
or  virtue.  It  may  be  that  in  its  best  condition,  yet  to  be 
expected,  the  great  moral  atmosphere  of  the  world,  like  its 
physical,  demands  the  ventilating  energy  of  storm  and 
tempest,  though  in  the  rush  many  a  valuable  structure  fall. 
But  however  this  be,  one  thing  is  certain :  the  lost  races 
tell  it,  as  history  tells  it,  as  the  Bible  declares,  nations,  like 
individuals,  suffer  for  their  sins.  Yice  buried  Babylon  and 
Thebes.  Wickedness  shivered  the  sceptre  of  the  Caesars. 
Nor  can  any  people  long  survive  the  ravages  of  moral 
gangrene.  Be  it  ours,  then,  as  we  love  our  country,  as  we 
feel  for  mankind,  by  example,  and  by  every  good  influence 
we  can  exert,  to  battle  wisely  against  every  form  of  wrong, 
to  cherish  whatsoever  is  right,  and  to  secure,  if  so  it  may 
be,  what  ten  righteous  men  would  have  secured  for  Sodom. 

Even  if  so,  however,  let  us  not,  writer  and  readers,  for- 
get an  end  that  cannot  be  averted.  Everything  tells  of  a 
change  coming,  greater  far  than  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations, 
more  solemn  than  the  mouldering  of  generations.  The  old 
tombs  contain  many  a  bony  finger  that  points  to  that  com- 


THE    MONUMENTS   OF   LOST   RACES.  347 

ing  consummation.  The  old  temples  meant  it  when  in 
their  prime;  their  shattered  columns  are  of  it  prophetic 
symbols.  Of  such  an  issue,  deep,  mysterious  forebodings 
of  the  human  spirit  give  warning.  To  it  the  past  convul- 
sions of  the  globe  awaken  attention;  and  its  whole  cer- 
tainty, with  all  its  mighty  import,  the  Bible  authoritatively 
proclaims.  Yes,  this  entire  planet  shall  one  day  be  the 
funeral  pile  of  all  that  is  consumable  in  whatsoever  has 
had  part  with  humanity, — or  it  shall  be  the  purified,  reno- 
vated scene  of  a  different  existence,  the  enduring  memorial 
of  all  generations  of  men.  Let  us  see  to  it  that,  if  so,  it 
be  not  for  us,  in  a  terrible  sense,  the  monument  of  a  lost 
race. 


348  SCIENCE   A    WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 


NOTE    TO    PAGE    309. 

x 

THE  facts  stated  in  the  following  note  were  furnished  in 
this  form  at  the  request  of  the  author,  and  are  here  intro- 
duced as  corroborating  the  conclusions  we  have  derived 
from  many  kindred  indications. 

Distinguished  as  an  officer  of  rare  merit,  and  entitled  to 
the  gratitude  of  civilized  nations  for  the  benefits,  scientific 
and  practical,  to  be  derived  from  his  invention  of  the 
"deep-sea  sounding  apparatus,"  Lieutenant  Brooke  is  still 
more  remarkable  as  a  man  of  original  thought  and  active 
interest  in  the  great  questions  of  the  age.  Having  been 
lately  in  charge  of  an  exploring  expedition  which  involved 
his  sojourn  for  some  time  in  Japan,  and  subsequently  in 
command  of  their  own  war-steamer  which  brought  to  this 
country  the  Japanese  Embassy,  so  as  to  become  familiar 
with  some  leading  characters  among  them,  Mr.  Brooke  is 
perhaps  as  well  qualified  to  speak  concerning  this  people 
as  any  man  living. 

May  14th,  1860. 
REV.  DR.  PE.NDLETOX. 

Dear  Sir: — Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Japanese  war-steamer 
Candmmarmh  at  San  Francisco,  the  Admiral  Kini-moo-rah-set- 
to-no-Cami  and  his  officers  were  invited  to  visit  the  plantation 


SCIENCE   A  WITNESS    FOR   THE    BIBLE.  349 

of  Captain  Frisbie,  son-in-law  of  General  Vallejo.  After  the 
excursion,  the  Admiral  and  his  suite  partook  of  a  collation  at 
Captain  Frisbie's  residence.  At  table,  I  remarked  incidentally 
to  Captain  Frisbie,  that  the  Japanese  word  for  milk  was  "  Tche- 
che."  He  replied,  "that  is  singular;  'tis  the  same  in  Spanish." 
His  brother,  Dr.  Frisbie,  said,  "No;  Tche-che  is  the  Indian  word 
adopted  by  the  Spanish  settlers  of  California." 

While  I  was  thinking  of  this  coincidence,  an  Indian  boy, 
"Martinez,"  who  had  been  taken  into  the  family  of  Captain 
Frisbie  when  a  child,  entered  the  room.  Captain  Mangiro 
tapped  me  on  the  shoulder,  and,  pointing  to  Martinez,  inquired, 
"  Where  you  get  him  ?"  I  replied,  he  is  an  Indian  boy,  a  Cali- 
fornian.  Mangiro,  shaking  his  head  incredulously,  exclaimed, 
"  No,  no  !  Nippon  !  Nippon  !"  At  the  same  instant,  Captain 
Katslintarro  inquired  of  Captain  Frisbie  where  the  boy  came 
from,  and  when  the  Captain  replied,  California,  he  also  shook 
hi§  head,  and  said,  "  Nippon !  Nippon !"  We  had  not  before 
noticed  the  strong  resemblance  Martinez  bore  to  the  Japanese  ; 
but,  our  attention  being  called  to  it  by  Mangiro,  Katslintarro, 
and  the  other  Japanese,  some  eight  or  nine,  who  were  present, 
and  who  all  concurred  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  Mangiro  and 
Katslintarro,  we  perceived  a  strong  resemblance. 

Mangiro  then  said,  <;  I  will  speak  to  that  boy ;  he  is  a  Japan- 
ese." But  Captain  Frisbie  informed  him  that  Martinez  could 
not  speak  the  language  of  his  tribe,  as  he  had  been  taken  from 
them  when  a  mere  child.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  it  is  probable  that 
one  of  General  Vallejo's  daughters,  now  in  the  house,  remem- 
bers some  words,  and  I  will  introduce  Mangiro  to  her." 

Nothing  more  was  said  at  the  time,  although  the  Japanese 

kept  their  eyes  upon  Martinez,  who  was  somewhat  annoyed  by 

the  scrutiny  to  which  he  was  subjected.     Soon  after,  Mangiro 

came  to  me,  saying,  "Captain,  what  I  say  is  true;  these  Indians 

30 


350  SCIENCE    A  WITNESS   FOR   THE    BIBLE. 

come  from  Japan,  I  think,  long  time  ago.  I  have  spoken  to  the 
lady,  and  I  find  many  words  the  same.  I  find  more  than  six 
-words  the  same.  I  think  this  people  come  long  time  ago  in 
junk  from  Japan ;  you  know  junks  very  often  have  typhoons, 
and  are  blown  away  from  Japan.  I  told  you  of  Japan  sailors  I 
met  in  Sandwich  Islands,  and  I  know  plenty  junks  go  that  way. 
Therefore  I  think  this  Indian  come  first  from  Japan." 

I  had  not  at  the  time  leisure  to  investigate  this  interesting 
subject.  It  is  probable  that  if  a  vocabulary  of  the  Martinez 
tribe  could  be  compared  -with  a  Japanese  vocabulary,  an  import- 
ant relation  would  be  established.  The  subject  is  worthy  of  in- 
vestigation. I  shall  write  to  Captain  Frisbie,  with  reference  to 
it.  I  have  in  my  possession  an  English  and  Japanese  diction- 
ary, and  it  only  remains  to  procure  a  vocabulary  of  the  Mar- 
tinez tribe  to  enable  us  to  determine  whether  the  Japanese 
were  right  in  their  conjectures. 

Mangiro,  who  is  a  very  intelligent  man,  was  wrecked  uptm 
an  island  in  the  Pacific,  was  rescued  by  Captain  Whitfield  of 
Fairhaven,  and  spent  several  years  in  the  United  States,  where 
he  acquired  the  English  language. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  westerly  winds  and  cur- 
rents to  the  eastward  prevail  between  Japan  and  California,  Man- 
giro's  supposition,  apart  from  the  apparent  relation  of  the  lan- 
guages, is  quite  rational.  We  know  that  Japanese  junks  have 
drifted  from  the  coasts  of  Japan  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia, 
and  nearly  midway  several  have  been,  by  our  whalemen,  found 
dismasted,  drifting  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves. 

Yours,  truly, 

JOHX  M.  BROOKE, 

Lieut.  U.  S.  Navy. 


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